Portal Party
by TealEmperor
Summary: Ever wonder what was going on in all those goofy worlds that Jesse and friends were running though in the beginning of episode 7? That's what this story is trying to figure out.
1. Getting this Party Started

**A/N: I wanted to write something for MCSM, and something more lighthearted after the seriousness of** _ **You're my Hero**_ **(that one was for regular Minecraft.) So, after talking about it with a friend, I decided to do a series of stories about what happened in those worlds Jesse and his pals were exploring, like the water world and the tilted world and the** _ **ever-popular**_ **fire world.**

 **This story uses Female Jesse (we'll call her Jessie to clear that up), and takes place after ep6 and before ep7. If you haven't watched the first six episodes and at least the opening sequence of the seventh, this is going to be loaded with spoilers. Caveat lector!**

"Adventure!" Ivor's loud, ragged voice echoed in the Portal Hallway. The long, narrow corridor was built of pristine white quartz and lit only by the colored light leaking out of the dozens of portals lining the walls. Blue, green, white, purple, red, and orange swirled within frames of gold, redstone, sea lanterns, and other treasures. The rainbow of lights coming from the portals still wasn't quite enough to dispel the darkness, so giant shadows stretched across the floor and crept up the walls. It gave the room an air of mystery, and its alien geometry only further reminded Ivor of how far he and his three teenaged companions were from home.

Upon Ivor's arrival in the Portal Hallway, the three kids turned to face him. They seemed rattled and relieved at the same time, which was understandable. After all, they _had_ just narrowly escaped a trap-ridden mansion owned by a pumpkin-wearing killer.

"I say we break that portal in case you-know-who figures out how to escape from the dungeon," Petra suggested, a bit belatedly. The feisty redhead was already attempting to pull the gold blocks out of the skull-shaped portal. Her tampering made the green goo of the killer mansion portal flicker, but it refused to go out.

"Petra, don't touch that. You shouldn't fool with forces you don't understand," Ivor reprimanded her.

"Don't play with forces I don't understand?" Petra seethed. "You're one to talk. Who was the one who made the Witherstorm?"

"That was not the intended outcome—" Ivor began, until Jessie cut him off.

"Hey, hey. Don't fight, guys," she said. The dark-skinned girl, clad in sleek Star Shield armor, interposed herself between her arguing friends. "We're never gonna find our way home if we're distracted by arguing."

"Hmph," was Ivor's response.

Jessie ignored the grumpy alchemist and pulled out a scrap of paper she had been carrying around since before they even went into the killer mansion world. "Okay. So now that _that_ nightmare is over, we're back to square one again. Which portal should we try this time?"

The others glanced around at the colorful portals, then looked back at Jessie and shrugged. Which was the typical response when she asked all of them at once.

"You know, I hope we aren't going in circles," Ivor said, breaking the silence. "How are we keeping track of which ones are which?"

"I've been marking them down on my paper," Jessie explained, waving the paper, which was crumpled and dirty from all the wear and tear it had gone through. She sighed. Her friends were equally disheveled. Petra fingered some scratches and dents on her blue-and-gold armor with distaste, its shiny brand-new state a fargone memory. Ivor's olive-green robe was worn down in spots and needed a sewing kit to patch up the holes and ripped seams. Lukas didn't seem to mind that his armor was beaten too, but he patted his spiky, banana-blond hair and muttered something about needing to touch up on the gel. It _was_ looking considerably less spiky than it had before they went to Sky City.

To distract the others from their disheveled states, Jessie continued, "The last world we went in was the mansion world, and I picked that one, so that means now it's...Lukas's turn."

"My turn?" Lukas's eyebrows perked. "Okay. Um...let's see." He took a look around at the nearby portals: a white one with emerald and redstone blocks for a frame, a green one with iron and quartz blocks, a pink one with quartz pillars and gold blocks. Finally, he settled on a blue one ringed about in gold and lapis, a few portals down from where he stood.

"The blue portal?" Jessie asked, pointing at it. Lukas nodded.

"All right, sounds good to me," Petra agreed.

"Ivor?" Jessie asked.

"Why not?" was the alchemist's response.

"Anyone have any guesses what kind of world it might be?" Petra inquired as they started heading over towards it, their boots and shoes clinking and slapping on the smooth quartz floor.

"Not a clue," Lukas replied with a shrug.

"There's only one way to find out." Ivor pushed past them to the front, leading the way. " _Adventure_!" He charged at the portal, pulling out his stone sword.

"Ivor, wait. Be careful-" Jessie warned, before he slipped through the blue goop completely, disappearing into another dimension. "-You...don't know...what's on the other side of the portal…" She had no choice but to follow him into the unknown.

"Crud," Petra grunted. "He always gets so hyped up whenever we go through a portal." She ducked through the frame and into the blue goop as well.

Lukas, unnerved by being alone in the Portal Hallway, slipped through the portal and said, "Whatever's waiting for us there, it has to be better than the White Pumpkin. Right?"

Well, that remained to be seen.

* * *

"Adven-Oof!" Ivor careened onto a wooden dock, tripped on a loose plank, and nearly fell flat on his face.

"My hero," Petra commented dryly as she passed by him while Ivor was standing up unsteadily and mumbling something about "regrettable rash action." Jessie and Lukas weren't far behind.

"A wooden dock?" Jessie asked, testing the rickety wooden boards by pressing them down with her armored foot. Green with algae and rotted in some places, they creaked and groaned under the pressure.

Overhead, a noonday sun was glowing in a nearly cloudless sky, making the sapphire-blue ocean waters surrounding the dock twinkle as they rippled in the wind. The air was thick, salty, and cold. Besides the occasional sea rock jutting out of the water, buoys floating a hundred or so feet away, and a motley armada of boats bobbing near the dock, there was nothing but ocean around them...endless, churning, glittering, salty ocean reaching to the horizon.

"Pretty," Jessie remarked, smiling at the charming nautical scene stretching out before her.

Petra wasn't impressed. "Well, this looks like a waste of time. Nothing but ocean in this world! Definitely not home. Let's go back." She whirled around crisply to face...a lighthouse. Instead of a portal, a weather-beaten lighthouse rose three stories above them.

"The portal is never there right behind us," Ivor said with a sigh. Reluctantly, Petra turned back around and crossed her arms in frustration.

"Looks like we're going to have to do a little exploring," Lukas said.

"Exploring where?" Petra questioned.

"Underwater...I guess…" he trailed off, not so sure of himself.

"Thanks, Lukas. That's very helpful," she said thinly.

Jessie wasn't listening to them. She glanced back at the buoys and boats. Someone had to have built them, of course. They didn't just poof there by themselves. She stepped up to the edge of the pier to get the closest look she could at the boats. They looked battered and fallen into disrepair, suggesting that they had been abandoned at this strange dock in the middle of the ocean. Most of them were wooden, with algae and mussels stuck to the hulls. Frayed ropes bound some of them to the dock, but most of them were free to drift with the waves. There were tiny canoes, several dinghies, quaint steamboats for fishing, and one large, half-sunk clipper (its mast leaned against the lighthouse, the sails dangling feebly from the wooden poles.) A few of the boats had cabins clad in brass and bronze plating, with gears and valves sticking out at odd angles. Jessie wandered down the length of the short boardwalk, backtraced, and then looped around the lighthouse to get a full view of the collection of boats surrounding the pier.

"It's crazy how there are all these boats just floating out in the middle of nowhere, isn't it?" Lukas asked Jessie as he walked up to her. "I wonder why they're all the way out here."

"Maybe it's a dumping ground for old boats that no-one wants anymore," Jessie suggested, turning to him.

"I can't imagine that this would be the only civilization in this world," Lukas said as he kicked a pebble off of the pier. It hit the water with a _sploosh_ and sank into the depths.

Jessie nodded and scanned the sprawling ocean around them, to the buoys bobbing a small distance away. Covered in a fresh coat of bold red and white paint, they floated merrily in the water like giant pieces of candy cane. And as she looked, she noticed something new.

"The buoys are in a straight line. They don't wrap around the pier like the collection of boats. Maybe…"

"Maybe they're giving directions?" Lukas jumped in. "Pointing the way to civilization?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jessie agreed. "I'll bet that's it. I mean, those buoys look brand new. Someone dropped them there rather recently…"

Lukas narrowed his blue eyes-as blue as the ocean he was looking at-in determination. "It's our only shot."

Jessie turned to Petra and Ivor, a few paces away. Petra was leaning against the lighthouse wall, watching them intently; Ivor was admiring the classical construction of the clipper leaning against the lighthouse.

Petra strode towards Jessie and Lukas. "Okay, that seems reasonable," she agreed, "but how will we reach them? Do any of these ships work anymore? Most of them look...broken."

"The canoes will be fine," Ivor pointed out.

"I don't want to row a canoe all the way to wherever these buoys lead," Petra protested. "What if the place is, like, a hundred kilometers away? We'd never make it in a wimpy canoe."

"Lukas?" Jessie asked, turning to him to receive his input on the situation. But Lukas wasn't standing next to her anymore. He was tugging on the rope mooring a small fishing boat to the pier, in an attempt to stabilize it as it floated askew in the water.

"What are you doing?" Jessie inquired of Lukas as she approached him.

"Well, since we're not going to use manpower to work the boats, our best bet is one of these steam-powered ships."

Jessie looked quizzical. "How do you know that they're steam-powered?"

"I recognize the mechanisms," Lukas explained. "Do you remember that funky statue with the gears and pistons the Ocelots and I built for the Endercon competition a few years ago?"

"Yeah," Jessie replied, remembering how the Ocelots had made a "self-assembling statue" that switched between the likeness of a horse and a wolf at the flip of a lever. It had used a system of gears and pistons to move the blocks, changing the statue's shape. Unfortunately for the Ocelots, it blew a piston and some gears slipped their moorings when they were demonstrating it, and the statue was a flop. That year had been one of the few times the Ocelots lost the competition.

"Most people would have used redstone for a build like that," Lukas continued, "but I had been reading up on powering machinery using steam power, gears, pistons, and stuff like that. It's called 'steampunk tech.' If I remember what the book said, people experimented with using steampunk tech before redstone was discovered. It fell out of fashion when redstone circuitry was invented. I thought it would be cool to do a little experimentation of my own with steampunk tech. But...yeah, it didn't work out so well."

Jessie stifled a chuckle. She remembered Aiden's horrified expression when the build was falling apart, and that was hilarious.

"Anyway, like I said, the machinery on this fishing boat seems familiar in that way. I think it might be steam-powered, too."

"It's probably broken, though," Ivor said as Lukas sat on the edge of the pier, slid off, and hopped onto the deck of the now-upright boat. The blonde boy was undeterred and threw open to door to the cabin, ducking inside. A few minutes later, there was the hiss of fire, a loud popping sound as the engine backfired and threw a jet of sooty smoke out a large valve poking out of the roof, and Lukas shouting "Whoa!" from the inside of the boat, followed by a hasty "I'm okay!"

"What is he…" Petra trailed off. "What is he doing? Is he playing boat mechanic?"

"Shh," Jessie said, trying to peek through the narrow windows to see what in the world Lukas was up to.

It was quiet for several minutes, and then a rattling sound and another fiery hiss came from within the boat. The fishing boat's horn tooted once and then it roared to life: the engine rumbled, the gears spun, the pistons pumped, and steady streams of clean white steam floated out of the valves in the roof. Lukas emerged from the cabin, his face smeared with soot.

"Well, would you look at that," Petra mused. "He made it work."

"Great stuff, Lukas!" Jessie cheered.

"It wasn't that hard," Lukas explained. "The only real problem was that the main pipes had a leak and the power wasn't circulating properly. I took apart an old fishing trap and melted it down to patch up the hole with, cleaned the steam valves, and tightened the bolts on some gears. After that, I just had to shovel some coal into its furnace and it was ready to go."

"Olivia would be proud," Jessie remarked as she hopped off of the pier to join Lukas on the deck. Petra and Ivor followed shortly.

"Let's get a move on," Petra suggested as they all ducked inside the cabin. It was low-ceilinged but still had enough space to comfortably hold the four of them. A control panel faced the bow window, with the door to a coal furnace underneath. Pieces of the fishing cage that Lukas had taken apart for scrap metal were scattered over the wood-plank floor, and Petra kicked them into the corners of the cabin so they'd be out of the way.

Lukas went up to the control panel and and turned a wooden wheel that apparently steered the ship. The boat spun around halfway to face the line of buoys in the distance, and accelerated towards them when Lukas threw a lever next to the ship's wheel. It skimmed across the water, passing the buoys in a matter of minutes. Several minutes later, they passed a second line of buoys.

"That's a promising sign," Jessie said, watching them fly past the windows. "Say, how is it that you know how to work a steam-powered ship?"

Lukas shrugged, but was too focused on driving the boat to turn around and face her. "Well, when the Ocelots and I needed prismarine for a build, we'd take a boat out to a bay, not too far from our town, where there was this old ocean monument near the surface. The treasure had been cleaned out and the guardians killed a long time ago, so it was mostly just a looted ruin. There wasn't much to it, but we never needed that much prismarine anyway, so it was our source. Anyway, Aiden put me in charge of driving the boat because he has no sense of directions. And I already knew a bit about how steampunk tech works. So I just put the two together, and here we are."

"Nice," Petra said with a nod. "I've never been good at driving boats. I always crash into squids in the middle of the ocean. Swimming back to shore after that is _not_ fun. To me, driving boats is just a lot of nautical nonsense."

"Whoa!" Jessie exclaimed suddenly, running up to the bow window and pointing at something outside the ship. "What's that?"

In the fog-bound distance, they could see the outline of a city. Tall buildings rose into the sky, which was now gray, cloudy, and sprinkling rain. The city was alight in a radiant golden glow, welcoming in the midst of the gloom.

"I believe we've reached our destination."

 **To be continued...**


	2. Driving Me Crazy

The fog lifted as the fishing boat pulled into the city's harbor, revealing the detailed architecture of towering skyscrapers and huddles of townhouses. Lukas adjusted a lever and slowed the boat down as it entered the harbor, skillfully maneuvering it around the other boats clustered in the water. He dodged clippers and tugboats and sailing ships on his way. He only bumped into two or three other ships in the harbor. At last, he coasted up to the end of a metal boardwalk that led ashore and stopped the boat. A somewhat-seasick Ivor hobbled towards the exit immediately, eager to have solid ground beneath his feet again.

"I had no idea you were so good at driving boats," Jessie said to Lukas as they exited the boat and climbed onto the boardwalk, after Ivor and Petra. "You always surprise me. People really shouldn't underestimate you."

Lukas scratched behind his ear and stammered a shy "Thank you," at the unexpected compliment. He glanced back at the quaint little fishing boat as it bobbed lazily in the gentle harbor-water. For the first time, he noticed its name written on one side of the bow. Big, white block letters christened the ship the " _Spandy_." Lukas cracked a little smile at the helpful little _Spandy_ and then ran to catch up with Jessie and the others. The boardwalk below their feet was made of aged bronze, and their metal boots clanked loudly against it. It continued for a few dozen meters until it gave way to the outskirts of the city. On the "shore," mechanics were busy repairing and building more ships like the kinds Jessie and her friends had seen (and driven.) They were too engrossed in their work to even notice the foursome wandering into the outskirts.

"Holy heck!" Petra exclaimed. "The ground is _metal_!"

She was right. The city wasn't built on solid dirt and stone like any other world—even Sky City had been a chunk of dirt and rock in the sky—but rather a massive network of plates, girders, railings, pistons and gears of the same brazen metal the boardwalk and boats had been made out of, all interconnected into a huge mechanical raft of the brass and bronze plating that covered most of the ground, there was a constant hum of activity: rumbling engines, clinking machinery, and hissing steam.

"Steampunk tech at its finest," Lukas mused. "It's beautiful."

There was a buffer of about twenty meters of "shore" between the harbor-water and the protective wall that seemed to circumscribe the city—it stretched off to the distance in either direction. Like the boats, the wall was made of hardwood reinforced with brass and bronze plating. It opened to a tall double gate in front of the boardwalk's end, the doors of which were wide open to incoming guests. A large sign arcing over the gates declared the city to be "COGSBOROUGH" with bold bronze letters.

"If this city is full of metal and wooden people, we're going home," Ivor muttered as they passed under the sign and entered found themselves on a wide main street lined with stores and apartment complexes. The gaunt skyscrapers loomed in the distance. Every building was bursting with ornate Victorian charm...and loads of gears and steam smoke and white steam cloaked the sky, floating into the air in continuous streams from houses, factories, and four friends were in awe of it all—this strange but attractive mix of the historic and futuristic.

Of course, it was none too long before the the traffic on Main Street interrupted their gawking. Horse-drawn carriages, driven by harried coachmen, careened down the road haphazardly and threatened to run them over. They scrambled onto the sidewalk flanking the street, which was beginning to fill up with pedestrians as they emerged from shops and factories, their work done for the day: men in top hats and dapper suits, checking their pocket watches; ladies in hoop skirts and tasteful hats, carrying lacy parasols to shade themselves from the bright evening sun. Jessie, Petra, Lukas, and Ivor immediately felt hugely out-of-place among them. Timid little Lukas dodged people left and right and avoided eye contact. As soon as they could, the group ducked into an alley between a cheese shop and a laundry to catch their breath.

"Well, they aren't wooden or metal," Petra whispered to Ivor as they huddled in the dark, grimy alley. "But they sure dress weird."

Ivor made a "hr-hrum" sound that may or may not have been an agreement.

"We should ask someone for help," Jessie suggested. "I'm certain somebody here knows what's going on, and hopefully how to find the portal home. Who, do you think, runs this place? Do you suppose there's a sort of Founder for Cogsborough like there was for Sky City?"

Petra shrugged. "Let's ask someone. Any average Steve on the street should know who runs the town."

"Good. Let's go," Jessie emerged from the alley with Lukas, Petra, and Ivor in tow. Once more they entered the flow of pedestrians, which had thinned a bit, now that the initial evening rush had dwindled. Jessie bit her bottom lip and scanned the passersby, trying to discern who might be a good candidate to flag down. Finally, she waved her hands and called "Miss?" to a bespectacled woman reading a newspaper as she came their way.

"Beg pardon?" the woman asked, pausing her newspaper-reading to stop and talk to Jessie.

"Hi, my name's Jessie," Jessie began breathlessly. "My friends and I could use your help."

" _My_ help?" The woman adjusted her glasses, confused. "Who are you people?"

"We're from another dimension!" Ivor boasted. "Lost and trying to find our way home."

The woman stared at them in horror and looked ready to bolt. "Ah…"

"Wait! Don't go, please," Jessie begged. "Just tell us who runs Cogsborough, and we'll be out of your hair."

"Who runs Cogsborough?" she repeated. "Well, that would be the Governor, of course."

"Okay okay," Jessie said, taking a mental note. "Where would we find him?"

"He works at Town Hall, but you can't just waltz into there like you're on a Sunday stroll," she explained. "It's defended by rather tight security."

"Oh," said a disappointed Jessie. "How can we get inside, then?"

"I know how," said she, pointing across the street. "Around that corner is the Wobbly Wizard Tavern. If you go in there and talk to the pianist, he will tell you how to enter Town Hall."

All four friends looked bewildered by these instructions. Lukas cast Jessie a dubious glance. How would going into a grubby tavern help them gain entry to a hoity-toity Town Hall?

"Just trust me," the woman pleaded. "I know what I'm doing."

"I don't know about this," Jessie said, looking to the other for help.

Ivor shrugged. "Do we really have any other options?"

"All right," Jessie conceded. "Take us there, please."

"Great!" the woman chirped. The five of them then waited for a break in the traffic before running across the width of Main Street, over to the sidewalk on the other side. Then, she led them around the corner and down that sidewalk. They passed a few shops and apartment buildings before they found themselves standing in front of a small, cottage-shaped building looking out of place among the others. It had stone walls and a wooden roof. A sign saying "Wobbly Wizard Tavern" was nailed to the roof, next to a contraption of metal wires and bars fashioned into the shape of a wizard. The wizard wobbled back and forth on a mechanism of gears and springs, creaking and puffing steam out of pressure valves as it moved.

"What a bizarre place," the ever-candid Ivor remarked.

"Here we are!" the woman exclaimed, motioning to the Wobbly Wizard.

"Are you sure this is where we're supposed to be?" Lukas asked. His discomfort with the idea of entering a rowdy tavern to ask for information was palpable.

"This is," she insisted. "Go inside and talk to the piano player. Hurry!" She hustled the four friends through the door, then turned and scurried off like a mouse.

Inside, the Wobbly Wizard was low-ceilinged and lit warmly by oil lamps. The dusty air was thick with the sound of clinking glass and hearty laughter. Tables, chairs, and stools were strewn haphazardly across the scuffed wooden floor. The bartender remained behind the bulwark of his bar, cleaning glass mugs and periodically adjusting his bow tie. Someone was playing a jaunty ragtime tune on a honky tonk piano in the corner.

"There's our guy!" Jessie said, pointing to him as soon as she noticed him. "Quick, let's go talk to him."

They jostled their way through the crowd, which was too absorbed in merriment to notice the hugely out-of-place armored people, in an attempt to reach the corner where the piano guy pumped away at the pedals, his fingers dancing on the ivory keys. Jessie cautiously led the way; Petra elbowed people away left and right; Lukas squeaked "Excuse me!" and "Sorry, sorry!" ad nauseum. Finally, they broke through the crowd and came within talking distance of the piano player.

"Excuse me, sir?" Jessie piped up, to get his attention. "Mister piano player?"

At the sound of Jessie's voice, the piano guy turned away from the keys for a moment to look at her. He was an elderly man with snowy hair and a monocle over his right eye. The top hat to match his dapper suit was sitting atop the piano, a little note reading "TIPS" attached to it.

"Hello…" he said cautiously. "Can I help you?" He looked Jessie and her friends up and down, taking in their outlandish armor.

"Yes, please. My name's Jessie...that's Petra, Lukas, and Ivor. We're travelers from another dimension, and we're trying to find our way home," Jessie said. "We need to find the portal in order to get back home. We were told to come here and talk to you."

"Honestly, I'm not sure why," Petra muttered. Jessie gave her a dirty look for being rude.

"So from what I've heard, a Governor is in charge of Cogsborough," said Lukas. "Is that correct?"

The pianist nodded. "Yes. That is correct."

"Is he like the Founder?" Lukas continued.

The pianist gave him a funny look. "Who?" He shrugged a little and turned back to his honky tonk, pumping the pedals again.

"Lukas, how would he know who the Founder is?" Jessie whispered to the blonde boy, who blushed a little.

"Anyway, we were wondering if you could direct us to Town Hall," Ivor cut in, stepping to the head of the group. "We were told that you would know how to get inside."

The piano guy suddenly halted his playing. There was a long, awkward silence as he sat on the bench with his hands on his lap, trying to figure out what the best response would be.

"Please?" Jessie pleaded. "We need to get home. We've been gone for months, probably a year even."

More silence.

"Please? Our friends miss us."

Slowly, the pianist nodded and rose from the bench. "Come. I will take you to Town Hall." Glancing back at the rowdy tavern patrons, who were still too absorbed in their merriment to notice Jessie and her friends or that the honky tonk had abruptly stopped playing. They stole away out a door in the back, coming into a gritty alley piled high with rubbish. It was dark, shaded by buildings overhead, and it stunk terribly.

"Peyuw!" Petra exclaimed, holding her nose. "What's that awful smell?"

"Honestly, I'd rather not think about it," the piano guy said. "As if the back alley of a tavern was going to smell pleasantly. Though this is hardly an agreeable place for introductions, I failed to tell you my name earlier, so I must tell you now that it is Tiberius. Now hurry along, and I'll show you my horseless carriage."

"Your _what_?" Ivor repeated, dumbstruck. "What's a horseless carriage?"

"Tarry not, and I'll show you." Tiberius hurried the foursome past the alley and out into an open lot behind the Wobbly Wizard. Coaches were parked in a neat row along one side, with horses tethered to fence posts on the other. The horses, taking a break from pulling a coach all day long, drank from a trough of water or flicked their tails in boredom. The last carriage in the row of coaches, however, lacked the tack and reins for harnessing a horse to it. Instead, it had a metal grill and a pair of lanterns on its front. Pressure valves and pistons covered the body of the vehicle, suggesting that it was powered by steam.

"Not a beauty, that's for sure, but it gets me where I need to go in a jiffy...and no dealing with tired horses," Tiberius boasted, taking a seat at the front and beckoning for the others to pile in. The foursome threw open the doors to the cabin and sat down on the remaining four seats—Petra and Ivor in the back row, Lukas and Jessie in the front.

"So this is my invention, the horseless carriage. I call it the Carrier Automatic of Recreation, or C.A.R. for short. What do you think?"

But before anyone could answer, Tiberius threw a lever and the C.A.R's steam engine sputtered into action, rattling viciously and making the whole vehicle shake. The horses across the lot whinnied in surprise at the sudden noise and motion. If it weren't for the ropes holding them to the hitching posts, they'd have run away from what they thought was a monster. Tiberius pressed a pedal and spun some wooden gadget resembling a ship's wheel, making the C.A.R. turn and zip out of the lot and onto the street.

Tiberius was not a careful driver. He careened down the streets, narrowly dodging pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages, turning extremely sharp corners, and generally flouting any traffic laws as he beat a warpath to Town Hall. Jessie, Lukas, Petra, and Ivor held onto the seats for dear life and prayed they wouldn't crash.

"Whoa!" Petra shouted as Tiberius screeched around yet another corner, just barely missing a building. "Watch it, man! You almost crashed into that library! Maniac!"

"Well, I still didn't crash, now, did I?" Tiberius rationalized. "I'm a great driver."

"A great driver? You ran over a cart full of watermelons!" Jessie accused him, pointing at the pink glop and seeds splattered over the windshield. "That couldn't have been good for the C.A.R."

"Pssh!" was Tiberius's response.

Mercifully, it only took about fifteen minutes for Tiberius to drive the C.A.R. up to Town Hall. He turned onto a road towards a towering, very official-looking limestone building coated in brass and whirling cogs. The C.A.R. shrieked to a stop right at the foot of the polished stone steps leading up to the doors.

"We're here," Tiberius chirped, shut off the vehicle, and jumped out of the driver's seat. A shaken Jessie turned around to check if her friends were okay. Lukas's face had gone as pale as the White Witch, and Ivor looked like he was going to vomit. Even Petra seemed rattled. They crawled out of the vehicle one by one, staggering over to Tiberius.

"Let's...never ride in a horseless carriage again," Ivor suggested. The other three nodded a wordless agreement.

"Aw, pansies!" Tiberius scoffed. "Look alive, friends. We've still work to do." He ran up the steps to the front doors. Jessie and the others reluctantly followed.

"Aren't the doors locked?" Jessie asked.

"What do you mean?" Tiberius stopped rifling through his pockets to glance up quizzically at her.

"Well, it's just that I'd figure the Governor would keep the doors locked during the day, so he's not disturbed while working."

"That's true," Tiberius concurred.

"Right. So we can't just waltz inside. We don't have keys or anything."

"Are you so sure about that?" Tiberius pulled a fancy keyring from his pocket and stuck on of the keys in the lock. With a simple twist, the doors were unlocked and he pushed them open easily.

"Wait a minute…" Jessie squinted suspiciously at him. "You couldn't have done that unless you were the Governor…"

"Well, missy…" Tiberius chuckled, "...I am the Governor."

 **A/N: In case you're wondering how to pronounce "Cogsborough," it rhymes with "dogs burrow." You're welcome.**


	3. Getting to the Bottom of Things

" _You're_ the Governor?" a dubious Petra asked as they walked into the main lobby of Town Hall. "I don't believe that. Why would they let a maniac driver like you govern the town? You're a madman!"

Tiberius blushed. "It was experimental. I've only recently finished building it. That was one of the first times I've driven the C.A.R."

"Wait, what? You made us ride in an unstable, experimental C.A.R?"

"Come on, Petra, I thought you loved danger," Ivor teased, elbowing her in the ribs.

"Hmph!" was her response. But she didn't feel like arguing about it anymore, so she stayed quiet.

Inside, the lobby of Town Hall was spacious, warm, and dusty. The walls were covered in dark wood and bronze plating, and oil lamps swung from the ceiling. Quiet hissing steam and clinking gears could be heard from their hiding-places within the walls. There were several doors leading off into other rooms and corridors, but Tiberius ignored them and brought them straight up to the desk at the far end of the room.

"This guy's wacko," Petra whispered to Jessie. "Just watch. He's gonna talk to the secretary, and I bet you five iron pieces she'll throw him out."

"Yeah, he's probably nuts," Jessie agreed, keeping her voice low so Tiberius wouldn't hear.

"So why don't we bolt, then?" Ivor complained. "Why are we sticking around?"

"Maybe we should get out of here," said a leery Lukas, glancing back towards the doors.

But just as they turned to make a discreet getaway, they overheard the secretary's shrill, chirpy voice talking to Tiberius:

"Ah Governor Tiberius Amadeus Killian Alexander, good evening. How delightful it is to see you again. Do tell me who those four guests of yours are...and why they look like they're about to run away?"

"I prefer to be called simply Governor, Mrs. Ledfoot, but thank you very much and-wait, what?" Tiberius, who really _was_ a Governor after all, spun around to see his four guests trying to sneak towards the door. His shoulders slumped as he gave them a very forlorn, betrayed look.

"...Sorry…" all four of them squeaked, greatly embarrassed.

"Well, I never," he began. "Why are you trying to run away?"

"We thought you were crazy," Ivor blurted. The others shot him dirty looks.

The Governor, surprisingly, didn't seem angry. "Did you? Well, Cogsborough is a land of impossibility. I mean, I'm certain any other one in my position would have committed you to the insane asylum if you came up to them wearing those ridiculous suits of armor and told them you were from another dimension. But, ah, Cogsborough and her Governor are not like that. That is why I have undertaken to help you in your quest to go home. Now...we must set ourselves to that task."

He turned back to Mrs. Ledfoot, who was scratching down notes on a ledger with an enormous feather pen and seemed totally unfazed by the exchange between her boss and his four bizarre guests. If she was surprised at all to know that said guests were from another dimension, she did a remarkable job of hiding it.

"I'm going to take them to my office," The Governor told Mrs. Ledfoot. "Make sure to mark them down in the log."

"Aye," said Mrs. Ledfoot, and she reported, "Four guests check in—"

"Wait, we should have their names. Jessie, Lukas, Petra, and Ivor."

"Aye," Mrs. Ledfoot droned again. "Four guests of Governor Tiberius Amadeus Killian Alexander, by names of Jessie, Lukas, Petra, and Ivor, check in at Town Hall in approximately 6:29 of the evening. 4th of September, 1904."

"Splendid!" the Governor exclaimed, then added, "...And it's just 'Governor.'"

"Oh no, that will never do, sir," she responded, going back to her other paperwork. Her feather pen flopped this way and that as she scribbled on the pages.

The Governor breathed out an exasperated sigh and motioned for Jessie and her friends to follow him. There were two staircases on either side of Mrs. Ledfoot's desk, leading up to a mezzanine wrapping around the lobby, and he led them up the one on the right. The mezz level was plain, with just a lot of doors lining the walls. Small plaques were bolted to the tops of the doorframes, saying things like "Meeting Hall B," "Janitorial Storage Closet," "Mechanic," "Commons," "Archives and Records," and the like. The Governor was fumbling with his key-ring as he walked, apparently trying to find the right key to open his office door.

Jessie elbowed Petra and smirked. "Pay up."

"What?"

"You lost the bet. Tiberius _was_ the Governor, after all."

"Oh, that was just a figure of spee—"

"Come on, Petra. Fair's fair."

Petra grumbled and dug a handful of iron chunks out of her Pocket. She handed five of them to Jessie, begrudging that she just lost the iron pieces she got from Lukas after _he_ had lost the bet, back at the White Pumpkin's mansion.

"Thank you for your patronage," Jessie, still smirking, chirped as she stuck the iron pieces in her own Pocket.

"Tut, tut!" said the Governor. "Let's not dilly-dally." He had found the proper key and unlocked the door. He pushed it open and ducked inside, lighting the oil lamp once he was seated at his desk. Petra and Ivor shrugged and followed him, but Lukas stopped Jessie right before she walked through the door.

"Jessie." He nudged her shoulder, making her stop and turn back towards him. "Did you hear what that secretary lady said?"

"What do you mean?"

"She dated her record as September 4th, _1904._ 1904! We went over a hundred years back in time! How does that work?"

"I don't know…"

He rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "Hmm...well, I suppose that if this is an alternate dimension, maybe it would have an alternate history, right?"

"That seems logical." Jessie nodded assent.

"I remember reading that steam power fell out of fashion in our world when redstone was discovered."

"Oh! I see where you're going. This must be an alternate history where redstone was never discovered. So they've kept on using steampunk tech instead…"

"...and built entirely mechanical islands like Cogsborough. Of course!" Lukas smacked a fist in his hand, satisfied to have put together the pieces. "And time must run more slowly in this dimension, or our dimension predates it and the years don't line up in that sense."

"Yeah. Yeah, that's a good explana—"

She was interrupted by the Governor suddenly poking his head through the door. "Oi! Jessie, you and your beau can profess your love for each other sometime else. Right now, we have work to do."

Both Jessie and Lukas blushed a deep red and meekly ducked into the office.

"We were _not_ gushing about how much we love each other!" Jessie protested, now standing in the room with the others. It was a small room, with blue carpeting, a tall picture window in the back, and lots of clocks and framed photographs on the walls. The desk, cabinets, and bookshelves were strewn with books, piles of paper, half-built clocks, assorted tools, and a wealth of strange gadgets and gizmos that Jessie couldn't begin to wonder what purpose they were intended to serve.

"All right!" the Governor clapped his hands, catching their attention. "I'm sure you all have many questions for me, and that is splendid. I do love talking about my dear city's history."

"Number one," Petra said, stepping forward, "how did you get to be in control of Cogsborough? You're a little on the kooky side...and a crazy driver."

"I built Cogsborough," the Governor said, matter-of-factly. "When I was a younger lad. It was a sweeping project undertaken to convert some useless small islands into a place where civilization can be cultivated. Under my guidance and finance, we built a great metal island atop the small sandy ones and then constructed a city atop that. And since it was by my resources that Cogsborough was built, I was elected to govern it. It's been that way since. I'll be in charge indefinitely."

"I see," Ivor jumped in. "I'll bet that's why you disguise yourself as an ordinary citizen and play the honky-tonk at the tavern. You want to listen in on what the people of Cogsborough think of you."

"Err...not quite," the Governor replied. "I've done that a few times over the years, but I've found that the people like me enough to make spying unnecessary. Rather, I disguise myself for a different reason entirely."

"What would that be?" Ivor pressed.

"Simple. I and my secretaries—you must have encountered one of them to be directed to me at the Wobbly Wizard—have taken to hiding among the populace to spy...not on the law-abiding citizens but the rebellious ones."

"Rebels?" Jessie questioned. "Aren't the people in a rebellion usually the good guys?"

"Ha!" the Governor scoffed. "That's rich. No. Those rebel ragamuffins seek to overthrow me and return Cogsborough to chaos. They sink fishing boats, attack private watercraft, harass citizens, and are in cahoots with pirates. They're but a lot of troublemaking scoundrels."

"So from what I'm gathering here, you and the secretaries are trying to figure out what they're up to, to stop their mischief before it starts?"

"Smart girl. Yes. And hiding amongst the citizens is particularly crucial at this time. You see, I have undertaken an ambitious project as of late, a special mission. I've employed several of Cogsborough's most esteemed marine biologists for an underwater expedition. We're searching for the Kracken."

"What in heaven's name is a Kracken?" Petra blurted, voicing the thoughts of all the others.

"I assume you are all acquainted with the octopus, right?" said the Governor.

"Yes…"

"Can you imagine an octopus the size of a house? Two houses, perhaps even? That's what a Kracken is."

" _Whoa_ ," the others murmured, at the thought of a colossal octopus gliding through the ocean depths.

"The scientists were deployed four months ago, and within the week they sent back reports of Kracken sightings and evidence that it had been in these parts. I was excited and sent them cameras—those newfangled sepiatone cameras, much better than the daguerreotypes—so they could photograph the magnificent beast. But I expressly warned them not to capture it!"

"Interesting," Lukas said. "Then what happened?"

"Curiously, I stopped receiving reports from them no more than a week ago. They are still out there as far as I can tell, but they have gone silent. I fear the ragamuffins found them or something. Those rapscallions are after the Kracken as well, but I can't imagine their intentions are as peaceful as mine."

"Hmm…" Jessie was crossing her arms and tapping her chin.

"What does this have to do with us, though?" Petra questioned.

"I can assure you that there is no portal back home in Cogsborough," the Governor said with a smirk. "Perhaps we will encounter one on our undersea travels, though. What say you?"

"It sounds kinda fun," Jessie admitted. Lukas nodded assent.

"Oh, what the heck," Ivor said, shrugging. "I'll go."

"Fine," Petra grudgingly agreed, even though she muttered something about the deal being "pointless" under her breath.

"Oh, this is swell," the Governor chirped, clapping his hands in excitement. "Let me show you my submarine…"

* * *

Upon the next morning, Jessie and friends found themselves on the cusp of southern Cogsborough, beholding the Governor's steampunk submarine in all its mechanical glory as it floated in the gentle sea. The Governor, who had changed from his stuffy suit and monocle into a more practical outfit of a wool shirt, pants, jacket, and brass goggles, walked atop his precious watercraft, polishing its metal shell and fixing up some things here and there with a box of tools.

The submarine was made in the image of a Guardian, with a large rounded body and a single porthole in the front suggestive of a Guardian's cyclopean eye. It had a long, finned rudder resembling the creature's tail. A series of pressure valves sticking out of the body reminded Jessie of a Guardian's retractable spikes.

"If you want a watercraft that can swim like a fish, it ought to operate like a fish," the Governor said as he checked some gears and valves, then opened the airlock-door on the roof. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like you to meet the _Captain Swan_. It's an Oceanic Transport Pod for exploring the depths. My OTP, if you will. It's a marvel of my own design—and rest assured, I have tested it out many times more than the C.A.R. It's perfectly safe as long as you know what you're doing. Now, let's not waste any more time. Let's go find the marine biologists, and hopefully the legendary Kracken as well!" He jumped from the airlock-door, disappearing inside the _Captain Swan_ 's bronze body.

"What a piece of junk!" Ivor exclaimed, looking in bewilderment at the contraption.

"He's the one wasting time." Petra hopped off the pier and onto the _Captain Swan_ 's roof, then started helping the others as they jumped onto, and often started to slip off of, the submarine as well. "He's so chatty."

Ivor was the last one to enter the submarine, and he slammed the airlock door shut behind him. Inside, the _Captain Swan_ was cramped somewhat from the bevy of controls and navigational tools stowed inside. There was a metal desk bolted to the back wall; the papers on it were secured by magnets to keep them from sliding off while the submarine was moving. Marked-up maps and illustrations of the Kracken were tacked to any free space left on the walls.

"Have you been looking for the Kracken for a while?" Jessie asked, taking in her surroundings.

The Governor nodded and started up the engine. The submarine spewed steam and smoke out of its pressure valves as the machinery clanked and roared to life.

"Err...maybe I should drive?" Lukas suggested, not trusting the Governor's submarine-piloting skills after the C.A.R. incident.

"What!" the Governor exclaimed, pausing his fiddling with the controls to stare indignantly at the blonde boy. "Why would you say that?"

"Well, it's just that...I don't know...maybe it would be best if...uhh…" Lukas trailed off, not wanting to offend the Governor by implying that he was a better driver.

Jessie came to his aid by saying, "Well, sir, maybe it would be better if Lukas piloted the sub—he has experience with steam-powered boats—while you kept a lookout for the marine biologists or the Kracken. Or the ragamuffins, in case we run into them. What about that?"

"But...but...it's my submarine…" the Governor protested.

"I can handle this," Lukas assured him, examining the control panel.

The Governor bit his bottom lip, thinking about it, then said, "Oh...all right. We don't want to waste any more time. You pilot and I'll help you navigate. Fine."

"Cool." Lukas threw a lever next to the joystick that steered the rudder. An alarm screeched in the tiny cabin, warning that the _Captain Swan_ was going to dive. The submarine plunged below the surface in a rush of bubbles. In seconds, Cogsborough was out of sight; the view through the porthole window showed a sweeping ocean vista instead. Jessie could feel the vibrations in the metal floor as the rudder swept from side to side, propelling the _Captain Swan_ through the deep blue. As they descended, shoals of surprised fish darted past. Lukas dodged around undersea rocks and heavy wire cables helping to tether Cogborough to the ground.

"Where should we be going?" Lukas asked, once he had the _Captain Swan_ leveled out a few meters above the ocean floor and puttering along at a steady pace. Jessie was impressed by his proficiency with steampunk watercraft.

The Governor shrugged. "I don't know."

"What!" Petra cried. "You dragged us along on this mission without even having an idea of where to go? Did you even have a proper _plan_ for finding this mythical giant octopus? This is ridiculous...You need to pull your head out of the clouds!"

"Petra!" Ivor exclaimed, surprised by her rude outburst.

"Wait," Jessie cut in, before an argument could start. "Wait, wait. I have an idea. Do you have any idea where the biologists might have been when you lost contact with them?"

"The last report I received from them had been sent from the Sea Sapphire. Why do you ask?"

"We can go there...to the Sea Sapphire, whatever that is," Jessie said.

"But they'll be gone by now," Ivor countered. "What then?"

"Well, of course, but we're not looking for the biologists themselves at the Seal Sapphire—"

" _Sea_ Sapphire!" interrupted the Governor.

"— _Sea_ Sapphire. My bad. Anyhoo, we'll be looking not for the biologists but for any clues they may have left behind. That could lead us to wherever they are now."

"You're just full of good ideas, aren't you, lassie?" the Governor said with a smile, then gave Lukas the instruction: "Direct course thirty-three degrees south."

"Aye aye, captain!" Lukas responded, rather cheesily, and steered the _Captain Swan_ to suit. He checked the compass no the control panel, to be sure his course was accurate.

Continuing east at thirty-three degrees, the hour-long trip to the Sea Sapphire—whatever that was!—was nondescript. Most shoals of fish wouldn't dare to get anywhere near the loud, bubbly, and obviously foreign _Captain Swan_ as it glided along.

"So what exactly should I be looking for?" Lukas inquired as he drove the submarine along, occasionally tweaking the controls to keep it from veering off course. "What does this Sea Sapphire look like?"

"Oh, you'll know it when you see it," the Governor assured him.

And see it they did. After about another kilometer or two, a marvelous sight spread across their view. Looking as if someone had spilled a big blot of blue paint on the ocean floor, a cerulean and perfectly circular trench extended to the depths.

" _Wow!_ " was the response among Jessie and her friends.

"Isn't it lovely?" said the Governor. "A gigantic, perfectly round, and gorgeously blue gateway to the bottom of ocean-world! Lukas, lower the _Captain Swan_. It's time to start looking for clues."

Lukas adjusted a lever and the submarine descended until it was a couple meters above the sandy ocean floor.

"Lamp, please," the Governor requested.

Lukas nodded and flipped a switch next to the joystick. A small lamp above the porthole window flickered on, creating a cone of light to pierce the moody darkness surrounding them. He drove the submarine around the perimeter of the Sea Sapphire, scanning the light beam along the sand to look for any evidence that the marine biologists might have left behind.

"Anything yet?" Jessie asked, observing one of the Governor's ocean charts in the back of the cabin.

"Nope!" was the response from Lukas and the Governor.

Petra grunted, disappointed by the whole mission. She clearly thought that this was going nowhere.

"Hello! What's that?" Lukas slowed down the _Captain Swan_ , causing it to halt near a pile of what looked like rough black rocks, lying half-buried in the sand.

"Is that...Why, so it is." The Governor scratched his chin. "I believe we've found a pile of spare coal."

"Spare coal?" Jessie repeated, not sure what he meant.

"The scientists must have discarded this extra coal to lighten their load. And...oh, look, there are some broken mechanical parts here as well." He pointed out the window, at the cogs and screws that were mixed in with the coal.

"Look, there's more over there," Lukas said, noticing the glint of metal a few paces away from the first pile of refuse. "It's like a trail."

"Was their submarine malfunctioning? It's not normal for the pieces to fall off of ships as they go along," Petra added.

"It must have been. Which—oh dear, they're in danger. Who knows how long that machine can hold together if it's malfunctioning and losing pieces? Ah, I knew I shouldn't have given them the cheap and unsound submarine. What a fool I was…"

"Wait a minute!" Jessie blurted, turning on the Governor suddenly. "You loaned the scientists a submarine that you knew was dangerous? Didn't you care about their safety?"

"Well, I suppose if you examined the situation from a particular angle—"

"I can't believe you would do something like that...what's wrong with you?"

"Now, now, Jessie, let's not be hasty. Don't jump to rash conclusions. You know that the marine biologists are accepting that their occupation has the potential to be hazardous…"

"Shut up!" Jessie snapped. "The scientists are Cogsborough citizens, too. What kind of Governor slacks off on ensuring his peoples' safety?"

"How dare you!" he countered. "An insolent youth-girl like you, telling me how to do my job?"

"I'll tell you how to do it until you do it right!"

While Jessie and the Governor were arguing, a shadow fell over the _Captain Swan_ as something ascended from the depths of the Sea Sapphire, before a stupefied Lukas's eyes. Eight dark teal tentacles slithered out onto the sand like giant marine snakes, curling and coiling. Then, the bulbous body of the octopus—no, the Kracken—followed suit, rising out of the pit in a cloak of bubbles. When the foam cleared, the Kracken looked down at the _Captain Swan_ with inquisitive black eyes that were as big as Lukas's head. All the blonde boy could do was stare in awe and terror. One sweep of those tentacles could damage the submarine beyond repair.

"Guys?" he called to the others, who were so absorbed in their quarrel that they failed to notice the entrance of the Kracken. "LOOK!"

The others begrudgingly stopped squabbling to see what Lukas was getting so hysterical about...and screamed at the sight of the colossal octopus floating above them.

"The Kracken!" the Governor squealed. "It's even more marvelous in person!"

A smile parted Jessie's lips. She was so mesmerized by the Kracken that she mostly forgot about how angry she was at the Governor.

The Kracken lifted a tentacle in the air and waved it. Jessie squee'd. She had always thought the goofy little octopi back home were cute, and this goofy giant octopus was no exception. She pressed a hand over her mouth and giggled.

"Feast your eyes, friends," said the Governor. "The Kracken has never before been seen by mortal eyes."

Lukas was scribbling madly in the book that he had taken from the White Pumpkin's mansion, drawing a sketch of the Kracken. He added the _Captain Swan_ sitting next to it, for a size comparison.

Even Petra was impressed by the creature. She crossed her arms and nodded at it, approving of the power and potential such an animal had.

"We didn't find the scientists, but we found what they were looking for…" Ivor stammered. "What now?"

The Governor started to respond, but his words were drowned out by an extremely loud foghorn. The noise reverberating through the water and made a horrible vibrating sound in the _Captain Swan_ 's cabin. The Kracken, bothered by the noise, cowered and shrank back towards the Sea Sapphire.

"Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no no no," he muttered as the wooden hull of a large ship came into view through the porthole window, looming over them. "The rebels have found us."

" _What?!_ "

"That's the _Stalex_ , a warship that the ragamuffins and pirates stole. They use it as their main base for their skulduggery on the sea. And it's found us...and the Kracken!"

Harpoons with chains attached to them blasted out of slits in the _Stalex_ 's hull, aiming for the Kracken. The octopus dodged away from the spears, only to get tangled up in the chains. The more it wrestled and writhed to free itself, the more trapped it became, until the chains were twisted into a tight net around it. It flailed its tentacles wildly in its fear and anger at being captured.

"No, no, no, no!" the Governor shouted, watching in horror. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"

The _Stalex_ shot a final harpoon, but this one had a heavy magnet on the end and was aimed at the _Captain Swan_. The magnet stuck to the iron braces on the submarine and held fast. As the warship ambled forward, it pulled on the chain and dragged the _Captain Swan_ along after. The chains from the other harpoons were reeled in, taking the captured Kracken with them.

The shortwave radio in the back of the cabin crackled and beeped as it received an incoming message from the _Stalex_. "Good morning, Tiberius."

"It's 'Governor' to you," the Governor seethed at the husky, distorted male voice on the radio. "Unhand us and the Kracken at once, you scum of the earth."

"So you decided to stop hiding behind the scientists and look for the Kracken yourself," the voice on the radio contined. "I'd thank you for leading us straight to the beast, but I don't owe any compliments to a crusty old fool like you. Once we've killed it, it should fetch a fine price with the pirates. Ha-ha-ha! Cogsborough is embarrassed by you!"

The radio popped and hissed as it shut off again. The Governor turned back to the others, a dark, dangerous look in his eyes.

Jessie started to offer an sympathetic apology, but it caught in her throat when he looked at her and simply shook his head.

 **To be continued...**

 **A/N: Yes, "Oceanic Transport Pod" shortens to "OTP" on purpose. ;)**


	4. Hard to Starboard

"I'm a fool," the Governor muttered. "A blistering idiot. We should never have gone on this mission. I've failed Cogsborough."

"As if you cared about Cogsborough," Jessie snapped. "Those scientists are in danger, thanks to you."

"I have to cut some corners somewhere," he offered for a lame apology. "I assure you that I am a well-liked and effective politician, even if I have to be sort of dishonest every once in a while."

Jessie just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Guys, we can't start arguing," Lukas said, desperate to stop the fight before it even started. "Now's not the time."

"For once, I have to agree with Blonde Guy," Ivor chimed in. "We won't escape this situation if we won't work with each other. Ask the boss if he has any plans."

"Do you have any plans?" Jessie haltingly relayed the question to the Governor.

"No," was his crisp response. He slumped on the floor and rubbed his hands over his face.

"No!" Petra shouted suddenly, and yanked the Governor to his feet. "We are not giving up, Tiberius."

"Governor…" he mumbled.

"No, you're Tiberius until you get ahold of yourself. Because a mopey dude is not governing material. If there's one thing I hate, it's quitters. So we're not quitting. Everyone got it?"

"But we've lost," Tiberius whined. "The Kracken is captured. _We're_ captured. There's nothing we can do."

Petra slapped him.

"Ouch!"

"I said I hate 's always something we can do, but if we waste time whining, we won't find out what it is. Jessie? Lukas? Ivor? Any ideas?"

Ivor shrugged. "No comment."

Lukas stepped forward. "The _Stalex_ is taking us away from Cogsborough.I'll bet the rebel ragamuffins have a secret base that they're heading towards. They thought we were dumb for leading us to the Kracken, but the joke's on them if they're leading us to their secret base. And who knows? Maybe we'll find the portal home while we're at it. We can slip away, infiltrate their base, rescue the Kracken, and find that portal!"

Tiberius sat back down and grumbled something under his breath, obviously not convinced by Lukas's pep talk.

"It's an okay idea," Petra said.

"And it's our only idea," Jessie added. "I say we go with it."

They fell silent, the only sound being the quiet groan of the chain connecting the _Captain Swan_ and the _Stalex._ The submarine was facing backwards, pulled along by its stern, and all that was visible outside the porthole was dark water. At the surface, the sun must have gone behind the clouds, stifling its light's attempts to reach the ocean floor.

"Did someone dump a slowness potion on that ship or something?" Ivor asked, complaining about how the _Stalex_ was churning along, unhurried, above them. "How did that ever win any battles if it moves that slowly?"

"They're probably driving it at a snail's pace to give us time for moping," Tiberius griped, still sitting dejectedly on the metal floor.

"What a great role model," Petra said with a sarcastic eye-roll. "I'm sure you're a fantastic inspiration back home."

Just as Tiberius was about to retaliate, the _Stalex_ 's horn blared again (it seemed to have a knack for interrupting people) and the warship ground to a halt altogether. The somewhat abrupt stop made the _Captain Swan_ lurch and bump against some rocks on the ocean floor. The cabin shook, and its occupants stumbled about, trying not to fall down.

"Are we there yet?" Jessie asked. "Can you see the bad guys' base?"

"We can't see anything out the viewport," Lukas said, pointing at the useless view of where they'd already been. Even though they couldn't see much, the gang could hear pounding and clanking noises overhead, muffled by the water.

"What's going on?" Petra asked, trying to see through the viewport.

"It sounds like some kind of machinery," Jessie said. "Maybe they're unloading cargo?"

"And their cargo is the Kracken!" a weepy Tiberius interjected.

"Put on some armor!" Petra snapped at him (a saying that meant the same thing as "man up"), still annoyed by his whining.

"Stop being so mean to me!"

Jessie ignored Tiberius's blubbering and paced the floor. "We're running out of time. But we're going to have to be careful."

"How so?" Ivor and Lukas, the only two paying attention at the time (Petra was busy berating Tiberius, who was becoming more hysterical by the minute), asked.

"We don't wanna get captured, right?" Jessie shrugged.

"Um...probably…"

"So we need a way to slip out of here before the ragamuffins come to take us to their dungeon or wherever they plan on keeping us."

"But there's water all around. We can't just step out of the _Captain Swan_ and _walk_ to where we need to go," Lukas said.

"Is now a bad time to mention that I can't swim very well?" Ivor piped up. Jessie and Lukas swiveled to stare at him.

"You can't swim?" Jessie seethed. "You never learned how to swim?"

"Well, I said I can't swim _well_ ," was his response. "Not that I can't at all."

Jessie facepalmed. "That would have been nice to know before you boarded the submarine…"

"Hmph."

Lukas threw his hands up in the air. "This is hopeless, Jessie. There's nothing we can do. We might as well just let them capture us, escape, and figure out where we want to go from there."

Jessie sighed. "What if we don't figure out a way to escape, though? Rescuing the Kracken will be easier without the ragamuffins watching us."

"If I had Water Breathing potions, this would be a lot simpler," Ivor said. "If only Tiberius had some kind of suit that would let people breathe underwater!"

"Tiberius has some storage chests here," Jessie observed, pointing at one of the metal coffers bolted to the floor. "Let's look inside, if nothing else."

"Shouldn't we ask first?" the ever-conscientious Lukas questioned.

Jessie looked over at Tiberius, who was still sitting in a corner and moping. "Nah."

The others shrugged and went to work on the first of the storage chests. Lukas pried it open, then he and Ivor rummaged through its contents.

"Find anything?" Jessie asked, looking over their shoulders.

" _Nada_ ," Lukas replied.

"Just a lot of hardtack rations. Ugh," Ivor tossed a handful of the dry biscuits out of the chest in disgust. They hit the floor like a bunch of pebbles and rolled into the corners of the cabin.

They moved on to the next bin (there were three in all.) In that one, they found some ropes, hammers, and wrenches-tools for repairing the _Captain Swan_ if necessary.

"Third time's the charm, right?"

"Here's hoping." Lukas cracked the third chest open and rifled through it. "Oh. What's this?" He pulled out what looked like a glass box and held it out to Jessie.

She took it and examined it. "It's a glass box? Kinda looks like Axel's helmet." She tapped the glass, producing a pinging sound.

"Here, here, let me see that," Ivor said, taking the glass box. "I want to try something." He stuffed it on over his head.

"Ivor…?"

"It _is_ a helmet!" His voice reverberated oddly inside the glass casing.

"What are you doing?" Tiberius questioned, stomping up to them. "Don't pick through my supplies!"

"At least we were actually acting on a plan by looking for supplies," Jessie snapped, putting on a glass helm of her own, just to spite Tiberius.

He glowered and clenched his fists. "And what is this little plan of yours?"

"We're gonna swim to the bad guys' base, rescue the Kracken, and maybe even find the portal home. No thanks to you."

"Give me one of those helmets," Petra requested, holding out open hands. Lukas set another glass box in her awaiting arms before stuffing the last one on, although he had a bit of difficulty fitting it on over his spiky hair.

"Well, I'm not going with you," Tiberius huffed, crossing his arms. "What you're doing is foolish and I'll have no part of it."

"We're fine with that," Petra droned. "Stay here and guard the _Captain Swan_ or something."

"I'm not responsible for any stupid things you do out there," Tiberius warned.

"We know." Jessie narrowed her eyes.

"Let's go. I'm tired of dealing with him," Petra snapped. The others nodded and headed towards an airtight exit hatch in the back of the cabin. Ivor slipped out first, followed by Petra and then Jessie. Lukas stopped before he left and turned back to Tiberius.

"Thanks for everything," he said plainly, before joining his friends.

* * *

The first thing Jessie noticed about the ocean water was that it was _cold_. Way colder than she expected. The chill seeped through her armor and clothes, sending chills up her back. Nothing in the universe was supposed to be able to break through Star Shield armor...except coldness, apparently. The _Captain Swan_ floated on its chain next to Jessie and her friends, making currents as it bobbed up and down that she struggled to avoid.

It was eerily quiet in the ocean, with little more sound than that of the softly rumbling water and Jessie's own breathing in the stale air within the glass helmet. She paddled out a little and glanced around for her friends. In addition to being cold and quiet in the water, it was also dark, making it hard to see them.

"Guys!" she called. "Stay together, everyone. We don't anyone to get lost."

She heard swishing sounds behind her, and presently Lukas, Petra, and Ivor appeared in her line of sight. She nodded and spun around, then pointed at the huge wooden warship overshadowing them. It was moored at the foot of what looked like a giant white mountain sticking out of the ocean. An iceberg.

"There's the _Stalex_. Come on." She swam forwards, with the others tailing her. It took a long time to pass under the _Stalex_ completely and reach the iceberg. When they reached it, they could see the empty net that had been holding the Kracken hostage, drifting uselessly in the current, and also a good view of the bow of the ship where it was just touching the iceberg. Jessie swam closer, interested. But the others were apparently full of questions.

"I thought the ragamuffins had a base!" Ivor said as the got closer. He had to shout in order to be heard...the glass helmets and water muffled his voice quite a bit. "Isn't that what that whiny Tiberius said?"

"Who'd moor their ship at an iceberg?" Petra grumped.

"Shouldn't the water be freezing in order to form an iceberg, anyway?" Lukas questioned. "I mean, I'm no scientist or anything, but the water would need to be pretty darn cold to form an iceberg that big."

"I don't know!" Jessie cried. "Why are you asking _me_?"

She swam upwards and watched carefully. There was a bustle of activity going on at the bow of the _Stalex_. A rope bridge had been set up, and scruffy ragamuffins and pirates were milling back and forth on it. They carried boxes and bags across the bridge, until they disappeared through a door-sized hole in the iceberg.

"Aha!" she exclaimed. "The base _is_ the iceberg! They're hiding inside it."

"Impressive strategy," Ivor said. "No-one would suspect an iceberg."

"I haven't had any beatdowns in a while," Petra said with a smirk. "Let's go kick some ragamuffin tush."

"Agreed. We have to find a way to sneak inside of the iceberg. Any ideas, gang?" Jessie asked.

"You're always the one with the bright ideas," Petra pointed out.

"Not all the time," Jessie countered.

"We could attack some of the ragamuffins, steal their uniforms, and pretend to be scalawags like them while looking for the Kracken," Ivor suggested.

"No, no, that trick doesn't work. Someone always finds out."

"We could just plow through them to wherever they're keeping that octopus," Petra offered.

Jessie shot her a look. "That's not very realistic, Petra."

"It'll all I got."

"Wait a second," Lukas said, paddling forward. "I think I see something."

"Like what?"

"Down there." He pointed towards the base of the psuedo-iceberg. "I think I see some kind of sliding door."

"Uh...I think we're gonna have some trouble getting to that," Jessie warned.

The area around the secret hatch was a dumping ground. Pieces of smashed boats, sludgy waves of sediment, and other refuse was floating in the water near the base of the iceberg. Worse, currents stirred up the garbage-including heavy boat hulls and rusted iron propellor blades.

"Ha, danger. Pssh." Petra pulled ahead of Jessie and Lukas with bold, sweeping strokes, propelling her ahead much more quickly than they. The other three followed her, heading straight into the midst of the underwater trash dump.

"I don't even want to think about what's making up this sediment," Ivor complained as they swam along, waving away the waves of brown glop. "Probably mud and rotten meat and mold!"

"Yecch!" Jessie gagged. "Ivor!"

"What?" he whined. "I'm just stating facts."

"If I throw up inside my helmet, you have to clean it up!" She huffed angrily and paddled ahead, passing Petra. She was intent on reaching the metal hatch, about the size of a garage door, nestled in the ancient ice. It was a gunmetal gray in color, blending in neatly with the shadows falling over the iceberg's peaks and crannies. Lukas must have caught a glimpse of the sun reflecting off it to see it in the first place.

It wasn't a terribly long distance, but her arms and legs were getting tired by now. Dodge that sediment bank to her left. Avoid the mass of discarded boxes and broken crates on her right. It wasn't that hard…she was used to danger...

"Jessie?" One of the threesome behind her was calling her name. "Jessie? JESSIE! LOOK OUT!"

"What?" Jessie turned and saw a huge piece of sharp-edged metal drifting towards her in current. Her heart started thumping, and she struggled to swim away, but it was a giant chunk of metal coming in hot and the current was messing up her path, pulling her dangerously close-

"Help!" she cried, flailing her arms.

Someone grabbed her elbow and yanked her away from the current and clear of the oncoming chunk of junk. It sliced through the spot where she had been just a second ago. Gasping from the surprise of the situation, Jessie turned to face the friend who'd just saved her hide.

"Oh my goodness," she panted. "Thanks, Lukas."

He nodded, looking a little shaken himself. "Yeah...Yeah. Man, you were swimming so fast I couldn't keep up...geez, that could have been bad. Come on, let's get to shelter before anything else happens."

They approached the metal hatch, glinting in the low light. Petra wedged her sword into the small slat of space between the hatch and the frame, using it as a makeshift crowbar to force the rusty door open. To Jessie's surprise, the ploy worked. The hinges protested with a metallic screech, but the hatch popped open in a rush of bubbles and allowed the four friends to enter.

* * *

They landed on a tile floor as a jet of water sprayed through the open hatch. The water spilled across the floor, forming puddles that, before long, pooled into a slowly rising layer of water. It was already ankle-height by the time they'd composed themselves enough to stand up.

"Gaaah!" Ivor cried. "Somebody close that hatch before we drown!"

"I'm trying! I'm trying! I don't see you helping!" Petra and Lukas were struggling to shut the hatch against the flow of water exploding through it. Jessie rushed in to help, and between the three of them, they forced the door shut and cut the water flow off to a trickle through the leaky frame. The water flooding the hallway they were in was up to their waists by the time they accomplished that.

"Well gee," Lukas said, pulling off his helmet and stowing it in his Pocket, "that was a stupid building design."

"Tell me about it." Ivor was wringing water out of his soaked robe as best as he could.

"Where are we, even?" Petra questioned.

Jessie glanced around at her surroundings. The hallway was like a tunnel, carved out of ice. The ice in the floor had been mined out and replaced with stone slabs. The hallway wasn't long, which explained how quickly it had filled up when it was flooding, There was a door on either end of the hall.

"Looks like we have to make a choice," Ivor observed.

"I'll go with the one on my right." Jessie walked up to it and flung open the door. It didn't open to another room, as she had expected. Instead, it turned out to be an overfilled storage closet. Cardboard boxes and wool blankets fell out of it and bounced off of Jessie's head and shoulders.

"Ah!" she yelped, swatting them away. "Okay. Not a door. Second time's the charm, right?"

They slipped out of the hallway into whatever was behind the other door. It was a huge atrium, carved out of a hollow of ice. The temperature in the room lingered so low that Jessie's breath kept steaming up her helmet and she had to take it off in order to see properly. When she could see properly, she almost wished she couldn't.

Jessie and her friends had stepped onto a balcony suspended about five meters above the main level. The Kracken was lying in a shallow tank of water in the middle of the floor, tightly bound up by a net. Obviously the hooligans knew that octopi can slip through tiny spaces, so they were making sure that the Kracken had as little space as possible. Giant harpoons and improbably large fishhooks hung menacingly from the ceiling. Two ragamuffins strode up to the tank, watching the Kracken struggle in its bonds.

"Blasted slippery beast she is, eh?" Jessie heard one say.

"Aye, that she is," his companion replied. "The beast nearly slipped free of the nets while we were bringing her into the base. Of course, she was a lot easier to deal with after one of the guys drugged her with a weakened poison potion."

"Nice and sleepy, right? So she could be moved into the tank without protest, right?" he asked.

"Yes," the other snipped, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Does your boss have his asking price yet?"

"Well, he's not sure just how valuable this varmint actually is."

"What...How can she not be valuable? The Kracken is extremely rare. We wouldn't have even found her if it weren't for that cobblestone-brained Governor of Cogsborough and his friends who led us straight to her."

"Ha! What a bunch of idiots!" the other guffawed.

Jessie heard Petra make a barely-contained growling sound behind her. She looked over at Petra and shook her head, warning her not to try anything rash.

"Anyway, the legends say that this brute has a giant diamond for a heart and liquid gold running through its veins," said the first ruffian.

"Oh-hoo-hoo," the other cooed, rubbing his hands. "Sounds delightful."

"We'll know for sure if that's true once the scientists cut it up. Then it can be stuffed and your boss will have a nice trophy...If he's willing to pay for the monster, that is."

"I'm sure he'll be amenable to the idea once he hears about the diamonds and gold. Say, how did you manage to acquire a team of scientists?"

"Oh, just a bunch of marine biologist blokes who defected to our team as soon as we showed them a fistful of cash. We pay 'em a lot better than that stuffy old Governor ever did."

Someone ran up to the conversing ruffians, looking excited to tell them whatever news he was bringing. "Boss says it's a deal!"

"Super!" The other guy high-fived him, then nodded at the first ruffian. "Sold."

"I'll go get the biologists." He turned and started to leave.

"Hey!" the other guy called after him. "Tell them they don't have to be worried about being humane."

"Ha-ha!" the departing ruffian laughed as he disappeared through a door. "No fear."

The remaining two hooligans also wandered away, dispersing to other parts of the base and leaving the Kracken alone in its tank. The huge octopus had stopped writhing. It sat dejectedly in its confines, seemingly resigned to its fate.

"Those biologists are gonna be over here in a matter of minutes," Jessie gasped. "We have to do something before they come."

"Remind me again how we got into this mess?" Petra complained.

Jessie ignored her and looked over to Lukas for help. He was leaning over the railing, trying to look for a plausible way to get to the main floor below.

"We could jump from this balcony," he said, listing their options, "but that would result in fall damage. We don't have any ropes or cords to rappel down there. I don't see any stairs or ladders."

"Anything soft we could land on?" Jessie inquired.

"No...uh...hey wait, look. A stack of crates." Lukas pointed to a pyramid of extra storage crates stacked up near the balcony. It looked like a two-meter drop, at most, from the balcony to the tallest crate.

"We could jump onto the topmost crate and then climb down from there using the rest of them," he continued. "They're stacked up like stairs."

"Yeah," Jessie agreed. "Let's do that."

They used the crates as basically an oversized staircase, hopping from one crate to another until they reached the floor. Then they ran up to the Kracken.

It shied away from them as they approached, obviously not trusting them.

"Hey, hey, hey," Jessie soothed. "It's all right. We're not those mean ruffians. We're not gonna hurt you."

"It can't understand you, Jessie," Ivor grumped.

"I'm not so convinced of that," Jessie retorted. She waved to the octopus, like she had in the _Captain Swan_. In response, the creature lifted a tentacle as best as it could and waved back. Jessie smiled.

"We're going to help you, I promise," Jessie said to the Kracken. "So don't panic when I take out my sword." She pulled out the sparkling diamond blade. Despite Jessie's assurance, the octopus still looked startled at the appearance of the weapon.

"We won't be bothering you for long," she continued. "I'll just cut you free and you can escape or break your way out and we'll find the portal home and you won't have to deal with annoying humans anymore."

The Kracken abruptly perked up when Jessie mentioned the word "portal."

"What?" she asked. "I just said 'portal'...why so surprised?"

The octopus gave a start at the word "portal" again and started to point at a door with a tentacle.

"Are you trying to tell me something about the portal?"

The creature pointed even more earnestly toward the door. Jessie was baffled. The door didn't look any different from the other ones on the main floor. Was it possible...No...It couldn't know, could it?"

"Is it through that door?"

More earnest pointing.

"Should I really trust an octopus for directions?" The absurdity of the situation was only growing.

The Kracken gave Jessie a pleading look.

"Well, you are an ancient creature of the endless mystic ocean," Jessie conceded. "I guess you would maybe know something like that."

A door on the far end of the room blasted open and a troop of biologists in white labcoats marched into the room. They gasped when they saw the four strangers with the Kracken.

"Hey!" they yelled. "Sheath that sword! Don't you dare lay a finger on that creature!"

"You're the only ones who are going to hurt the Kracken," Lukas spat back, "and we're not going to let you."

"You're just a bunch of nerds in lab coats," Petra boasted, showing off her enchanted golden sword. "We aren't afraid of you!"

The scientists pulled out swords of their own and got ready to charge at the intruders. "Are you afraid of us _now_ , punks?"

"Not as afraid as you'll be of the Kracken," Jessie replied, and she deftly cut through the net with her sword.

The scientists stopped dead in their tracks as the Kracken shook off the shredded net, pleased to be free of its bonds.

"Oh, _snap_ ," Jessie heard one say.

The Kracken lashed out with its tentacles, smacking the entire group of eight or so goons into the wall with the door they'd come through. Enraged, it thrashed and kicked, its tentacles snapping through the air like whips. Obviously, it wanted to go the route of breaking out of the stronghold.

When one of its huge muscular tentacles crashed through a south wall, reducing it to rubble in seconds, Jessie spun around and took one horrified look at her friends.

"RUN!" they all screamed, and took off for the door that the Kracken had been pointing at earlier, as the angry octopus smashed up the room in a bid for freedom. They just about battered down the door in their haste to leave. They all slipped through just as huge chunks of ice started to break off from the ceiling and crash to the floor.

Jessie, Petra, Lukas, and Ivor took off down the wide hallway that the door opened up into, not stopping for anything. The whole structure was creaking and rumbling underfoot...the Kracken's rage was rendering it more unstable by the second. Down the halls and down a staircase the group went, as pieces of ice shook loose from the ceiling and rained down around them. They tripped and fell down the last staircase, scrabbling around on the floor. At the end of the room, a wonderful sight greeted them. It was a blue portal with a frame of gold blocks and lapis, swirling peacefully like it had been waiting its whole life for this moment to be useful.

"Score!" Jessie hooted, scrambling to her feet. "Okay, everybody i-AAAAH!"

The iceberg completely collapsed, breaking the room apart around them. Water gushed in from all sides, sending Jessie and her friends...and the portal...scattering. Jessie gagged as she got a mouthful of salty cold water, as did the others. They clawed through their Pockets, whipped out their helmets, and shoved them on before they drowned. Lukas grabbed Jessie's hand and they fought the current to reach the portal, slipping through. Petra followed afterward, and Ivor was shot through the portal on a final jet of water blasted by the Kracken.

Jessie and her friends were thrown out of the portal into the Portal Hallway, minds reeling. She, Lukas, and Petra leaned over and rested their hands on their knees to catch their breath. But they didn't even have time to say a word about their adventure or wonder aloud what had happened to Tiberius before Ivor came careening out of the portal on the jet of water and flew across the hall, disappearing through the portal opposite the one they had just come through.

Petra took one look at the portal Ivor had just accidentally traveled through and pulled off her glass helmet in disgust. "Oh, no! Not again!"

The threesome ran after Ivor, starting the next part of their crazy portal party...

 **A/N: And Part 1 is now a wrap. Thanks for tagging along! :3 Join me in October for the next arc, in the Monsters and Ghosts World!**


	5. Dead Wrong

Petra stormed through the portal, dragging a sopping wet Ivor by the arm. Jessie and Lukas had already made it through to the Portal Hallway, and they were discussing which portal to try next. Jessie crossed the water world portal off the list as Petra approached. Ivor wrestled free of her grip and muttered something about wanting a towel.

"Well, every wrong portal is a step towards the correct one, right?" Lukas said to Jessie, trying to stay upbeat.

"Yeah...I guess," she responded. "Was that scary or what?"

"I thought we weren't going to make it out of there alive."

"You always think that."

Lukas brushed a loose piece of hair out of his face, embarrassed. "It's hard not to think that when we're always running into danger…"

"I love danger!" Petra interrupted, elbowing Lukas in the ribs.

He shied away and rubbed the jabbed spot. "Ouch…"

"Pssh, kids," Ivor scoffed. "Where are we going now?"

Jessie shrugged. "Lukas picked the water world portal, and that last one we went through was an accident, so I think it's Petra's turn now." She pulled her list of names out of her Pocket and checked it to be sure.

"Oh. Great." Petra paced around the hall, looking at all the options.

"How about this pink one? Girls love everything pink!" Ivor suggested, pointing at the quartz-framed pink portal.

Petra gave him a dirty look. "Definitely not." She wandered around the hallway, glancing at each portal and contemplating which one was jumping out at her. She settled on a green portal framed in emerald and gold.

"This looks as good as any," she said, pointing to it. "Maybe a little ominous, but eh. I'm probably just psyching myself out. It's not going to be too scary for y'all, right?"

"I'm not scared," a defensive Ivor protested. Then, to prove to Petra that he was _most definitely not scared_ , he charged at the portal, yelling his catchphrase: "Adventure!" He slipped through the green goo and disappeared into whatever world awaited on the other side.

"Is he going to do that every time we go into a new world?" Lukas asked Jessie.

She glanced over at him and nodded. "Most likely."

* * *

As soon as she ran out of the portal, Jessie was greeted by two things. One was a blast of cold, clammy air and the other was a large stone brick that she tripped over. Before she knew it, she was plunging towards a rough impact on solid stone ground. She reflexively stuck her arms out for a softer landing, hit the ground (narrowly avoiding a faceplant), and then sat up, dazed.

"And that is not how to make a graceful entrance," she commented to her friends as Lukas helped her to her feet.

"Are you all right, Jessie?" he asked as she dusted herself off.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. "What was that all about?"

"We're going to have to watch our steps," Lukas explained. "There are bricks and rocks scattered all over the place here."

It was true. All of the ground in their vicinity had been completely paved over with smooth stone and cobblestone. Rocks, pebbles, and loose stone bricks littered the ground like autumn leaves. The shadows of tall, plain buildings, also built completely of stone, loomed around them like a forest of gigantic, petrified tree stumps. Many of them were damaged and crumbling in places, evidently the source of the rubble on the streets. Overhead, the sky was covered in a stratus cloud layer, gloomy and pale gray. A cold wind breezed through their midst, playing with Jessie's inky hair. She adjusted her hair clip, looking up at the buildings with a vague sense of foreboding stirring in her gut. But she pushed it aside, assuming that it was just new-world jitters.

"Hmm…" Ivor mumbled. "Welcome to the big city."

This city, with its wide roads and gargantuan buildings, reminded Jessie of Cogsborough. But there was something else, something _off_ , about this place...or was she just imagining things?

"Kind of empty for a big city," Lukas observed. "Where is everyone?"

"I'm sure we'll run into someone if we just look around enough," Jessie said. She wandered over to one of the buildings and tugged on the metal entrance door. It didn't budge.

"Locked," she muttered, and tried a different one, but that something heavy had fallen down inside and blocked the door, preventing it from being opened. When she finally found a building with a cooperative door, she pushed it open and it swung back on its hinges with a creak. With her three friends tagging behind, Jessie cautiously stepped inside. The first floor was nothing but a bare patch of stone floor and windowless walls. The sealed air inside the room was dank and musty, like a long-neglected basement. Water leaked from cracks in the ceiling, forming rust stains on the floors and walls.

They went up the steps into the next floor, which was hardly an improvement. This room had windows, but every one of them was smashed in. Glass shards from the shattered windows littered the floor, along with fist-sized rocks.

Lukas picked up one of the rocks and tested its grip in his hand, then glanced up at the ceiling. "These didn't fall from the ceiling. I wonder...was someone throwing these at the windows to break them?"

"Makes just as much sense as anything else going on here," Petra said. "A city made entirely of stone? A _completely empty_ city made entirely of stone? Something weird is going on here."

Jessie paced around the room, her feet splashing in the little water puddles on the floor. "Maybe this building is just abandoned and anyone who was here moved out. It _is_ in rather sad shape."

"This place is giving me the creeps," Lukas complained, not really believing Jessie's best-case-scenario explanations.

"I concur with that!" a nervous Ivor exclaimed.

They left the empty building in a hurry after that and looked in some more, but it was the same story every time. Solid stone construction, empty rooms, broken windows, grit and grime. The entire city block they explored was vacant and slowly crumbling to rubble. It was a culture shock to Jessie and her friends, who were used to quaint, lively villages. With each empty building they explored, the sense of foreboding grew like a shadowy monster among them, and the chance that the structures had simply been abandoned and their occupants moved elsewhere stretched slimmer.

Continuing along the street they'd landed on, they found a town-square sort of street circumscribed it, leaving an island of stone slabs in the midst of the paved roads. There was a fountain in the middle of the "island," but it was dry—not a drop of water was cycling through it. Petra leaned over its rim, curious if there were any bits of gold or iron that people had tossed in the fountain in hopes of a wish.

There were human-shaped statues, stone like everything else in the city, standing in random spots around the town square. Jessie examined each one, intrigued by their craftsmanship. Each one stood in a unique pose, and facial details on the statues were impeccable—Jessie could see the look of terror reflected perfectly in the statues' stone eyes. Some of them were posed like they were running away, some had their hands defensively up in front of their faces, and others looked like they were collapsing as if struck by something.

"Hey, guys!" Jessie said, pointing at the stone people. "Check out these statues. These people look totally _petrified_!" She giggled prodigiously at her own joke.

"Or maybe Petra-fied!" Ivor jested, shooting Petra a pointed glance. Petra responded with a death glare. She stormed over to Ivor to give him a piece of her mind, only to trip and stumble over a piece of rubble on the ground. She bent down and picked it up. It was part of one of the statues, fallen over and broken to pieces on the hard ground.

"Whoever sculpted these must have a penchant for depicting panic," Lukas commented, observing the horrified expressions on the stone people. He turned when he heard the scritchy scratchy sound of two rough surfaces rubbing together, to see Ivor scraping a piece of coal on one of the statue's faces. He was drawing a mustache and glasses on it. When Ivor saw Lukas glaring at him, he grinned sheepishly and pocketed the coal.

"Really, Ivor?"

"I...um...thought the face needed more detail..." Ivor offered for a lame excuse.

"Stay focused. You can vandalize statues later. Right now we need to figure out where we are."

"We're in an empty city, that's what," Petra said cheerlessly. "It's just as dead as the stone it's carved from." She tossed the piece of statue she had picked up aside and went back to rooting in the fountain. Half a minute later, she came up with a fistful of iron and gold pieces and a triumphant declaration of "Score! This makes up for losing the iron bits in that bet with Jessie." She stuffed her prize into her Pocket.

Shortly after she did that, a low rumble sounded from underground, and it was jarring after all the thick silence that had hung over the city. Jessie, Lukas, Petra, and Ivor looked around in panic, wondering if they were caught in an earthquake. The rumbling continued for a few minutes before fading to an anticlimactic conclusion, leaving the city quite unshaken.

"What the heck was that?" Petra asked. "That was the wimpiest earthquake I've ever seen."

Jessie looked at her quizzically but didn't feel like hearing any stories about earthquakes that Petra had ostensibly witnessed in times past, so she didn't ask.

"That was the only earthquake _I've_ ever seen," Lukas mumbled.

Just when they wrote the rumbling off as the world's wimpiest earthquake, the top tier of the fountain blasted off, and a cloud as black as sin leaked out, rising into the dreary sky. It swirled and twisted for a bit before molding into the shape of a person. He had shadowy features, sickly yellow-green skin, dark old-fashioned clothes, and a dull look in his eyes. He wore a massive black cape formed from the rest of the dark cloud, and carried a long silver scythe.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say he's not a nice fella," Jessie commented, gawking at the floating man.

"Ya think?" Petra whispered back to her.

"At last, once again, living mortals have come to the city of the dead," the floating man said, his voice an emotionless monotone. "I could sense it, but it was your greed for just a few scraps of metal that truly awoke me. If you knew not the name of Interrus, you will know it soon enough."

While Interrus was talking, a monstrous army filed into the town square from all its junctions: staggering zombies, clanking skeletons, bloodstained vampires, and scores of ghosts. They gathered around Interrus like he was some kind of commander. Which he probably was to them.

"Maaaaaaaster," they groaned in a creepy, voice-of-the-Legion unison.

"And...we'd best be going now," Ivor said quickly, and spun on his heels to run away. He didn't get far before being shoved back by a line of zombies and vampires who had moved in behind Jessie and her friends to block their exit.

"Oh, no, you had best not run. It will only delay the inevitable," Interrus droned, gently descending to the ground. He held his scythe like a cane to steady himself.

"That is a load of rotten zombie flesh!" Petra snapped, prompting offended grunts from the present company of zombies. "Whatever you want with us, we'll never give in."

"Fiery lass, you are," said Interrus, not fazed in the slightest. "I'll have to do something about that. It shan't be too hard. Once you four have been...assimilated..."

"You don't scare me, you fusty old creep. We'll see how smug you are after I've given you a taste of my sword!" She whisked out the glowing golden weapon for emphasis.

"Likewise I am not frightened by you."

Petra whipped around and hacked the skulls off of three skeletons standing side by side, then turned and stared daggers at Interrus. "What do you think of that?"

"Skeletons are replaceable."

"Petra…" Jessie warned. Her friend was letting her feistiness get the best of her again.

"In all honesty, lassie, I don't believe you to have the ability to do a smidgen of harm to me," Interrus continued, never changing his tone or expression. "You don't have that sort of power."

That rubbed Petra the wrong way. Screaming her trademark battle cry, she lunged at Interrus with her sword poised to stab. Interrus made no move to dodge the attack, and Petra plunged the blade squarely into his chest. Jessie winced and Lukas averted his eyes, but nothing happened. Interrus was still standing tall, completely unaffected, looking at the sword blade in his chest with vague intrigue. Jessie's jaw dropped.

"Not only are you brash and brazen, but you are also stupid," Interrus said to Petra. "I told you that you would not be able to harm me. I cannot be killed because I am already dead." With subtle disgust, he pushed the astonished girl away, dislodging the sword from his chest. Petra was so flabbergasted that she dropped her sword on the spot.

"I suppose we are in a fight now," Interrus continued, "and as you evidently made the first move, I presume that it is now my turn."

Before Petra could do so much as make a move to retrieve her sword, Interrus struck out and grabbed her by the neck. In his first display of emotion since the foursome encountered him, he narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Petra shrieked; he snarled. In one rough motion, he drew back, yanking a translucent white mist out of Petra's mouth and throat. It formed itself into a ghostly image of Petra, trembling in fear, with a shocked and horrified look in her eyes. Interrus calmed down and watched with a faint trace of interest as her corpse collapsed, her armor clanking as it impacted the ground.

"Wha...Wha...What was...was that?" Petra, now a ghost, stammered, not being able to process what had just happened.

"Not so spunky now, are we?" Interrus asked, reverted to his detached demeanor after his show of fury.

"You monster! You made me a ghost!"

"Call me names, will you? Honestly, you should be thanking me. That armor was so tacky."

Ivor and Lukas had to hold Jessie back as she strained to rush at Interrus, waving her enchanted sword and screaming every foul slur she knew. Lukas, a bit sensitive, rubbed his ears as if hearing Jessie's sailor mouth was physically hurting him.

"Let go of me, Ivor!" Jessie snapped, trying to wrestle away from his hold.

"Jessie, stop and think. If you rush in like a madman at Interrus, you're going to end up a ghost like Petra," Ivor hissed in response. "Don't make him angrier than he already is."

"As for the rest of you," Interrus said, addressing Jessie, Lukas, and Ivor, "would anyone else like to try to kill me?"

The army of the dead that Interrus had summoned started to close in on them.

Interrus gave the command. "Take them."

"That's not happening!" Jessie said, and cut down two zombies before spinning about and taking out a vampire as well. Lukas and Ivor quickly picked up on her lead, drawing their swords as well.

"What are you doing is foolish," Interrus warned, his voice still not wavering with any sort of emotion.

Jessie and her friends had cut a hole through the line of the dead army, providing a window for escape. With no other plan, they took off through the streets, just hoping to get away from the goons until they could come up with some plan to get Petra back. Jessie felt terrible leaving her behind, but if they stayed, all four of them would end up as ghosts. They ran with no clear idea of where they wanted to go, only knowing that they just had to lose the zombies and vampires hounding them. Jessie frequently stole glances over her shoulder to check if they were still in hot pursuit. The zombies were too slow to keep up, but the vampires were right on their tails. The group steered through confusing tangles of sharp corners and alleyways in their desperation to evade their pursuers. Lukas pulled out his spare stone sword and threw it at the vampires. It struck one of them in the chest and it crumpled to the ground, dead. Jessie stared at him, impressed by his sudden streak of bravery. The other vampires were distracted by the surprise attack, buying the three friends a small bit of time to push ahead.

"Ha!" Jessie laughed at their lagging-behind pursuers. "Come and get us now!"

"Hey, why did they stop?" Lukas inquired.

"Huh?" Ivor and Jessie screeched to a stop. The three of them were standing on top of a large wooden platform. The vampires lingered at its edge, hesitant to step onto it.

"That's weird," Jessie remarked, watching them glare venomously at her and her friends without making any attempt to come after them. "What, does this wood smell like garlic or something?"

"Maybe they don't like how the wood beams form crosses?" Lukas suggested.

"That's for ghosts!" Ivor corrected him.

"Well, sorry. I'm not an expert on monst—" Lukas began, until a loud creak from the platform underfoot interrupted him. "Uh-oh. That's not a good sound."

The wooden planks and beams making up the platform, one of the few things not made of stone in that dreadful city, were very old and not very sturdy. The wood was rotting from exposure to the elements, rendering it so weak that it would give under too much weight. Like three people suddenly running onto it, for instance.

"Well, this isn't ideal," Ivor mumbled as the wood shifted and groaned some more.

"Hang on, guys," Jessie said. "We might be in for a rough land—AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The platform broke free of its moorings and plunged straight down into a wide, dark hole. It smashed to pieces at the bottom of the pit, throwing shattered chunks of wood everywhere. Jessie and Lukas had their armor and Ivor landed at the top of the rubble pile, so mercifully no-one was injured in the fall, just dazed.

"Ouch…" Jessie groaned, wriggling free from the heap of smashed wood. She pushed some debris out of the way and helped Lukas free as well. Then the threesome cautiously descended the mountain of destruction and filed onto the grimy cobblestone floor of the pit. Even the hefty pile of rubbish wasn't tall enough to help them climb back out of the pit, and they had nothing on hand that could help. To their side, the mouth to an even darker tunnel loomed. It was framed in grimy weathered cobblestone, and lettering was carved into the arch above the entrance: _LES CATACOMBES_.

Ivor glanced up at the foreboding tunnel. "Not very inviting, is it?"

 **A/N: Welcome to the Monsters and Ghosts World...**


	6. Tunnel Vision

Jessie hated tunnels. There was always something bad just waiting to happen in a tunnel. The one that she, Lukas, and Ivor were forcing their way through was cramped, dark, and fetid with a musty, moldy smell. It had been dug right out of the ground and not developed any further than that, so it was nothing but bare dirt and pebbles all around. It twisted and turned haphazardly, so much that sometimes it seemed like it was doubling back on itself. Lukas lit a torch so they could see, and its yellow light slithered along the walls, providing a small shield around them from the shadows...but that didn't stop Jessie's imagination from conjuring up all kinds of scary beasties hiding in the darkness looming before them. Worse still, she couldn't even console herself with thoughts like "There's no such thing as ghosts," and "Boogeymen don't exist," because those beasties were all too real in this world.

"Remind me again why you thought this was a good idea," Jessie said to Ivor, double-taking over her shoulder.

"You didn't have a better one," Ivor pointed out.

"Maybe we should have tried to climb out instead of going into these dark and creepy tunnels. Nothing good ever happens in a dark and creepy tunnel!"

"Not with the platform reduced to splinters and no other way up and out."

"I still say running into a dodgy tunnel system was a bad idea. We're lucky Lukas had a torch with him."

"What kind of fool doesn't bring torches when they go on an adventure?"

"Guys, guys, come on," Lukas said, interceding once again. He had to step in the middle of arguments quite often, it seemed. "Arguing isn't getting us any closer to helping Petra."

"That's to say _if_ Petra can be helped," Ivor retorted.

"Ivor! Don't say that!" Jessie cried. "If we can figure out some way to put her soul back in her body, she should be okay, right?"

"Theoretically. But how are we going to get ahold of her ghost and corpse? Interrus has both of them."

"We'll find a way. We always do."

"How sappy."

"It's true, though."

Every so often, an otherworldly noise echoed from some other portion of the tunnel system. Sometimes it sounded like a guttural growl, other times a high-pitched squeal. Jessie shuddered every time she heard a noise. Ivor kept telling her that it was just natural tunnel sounds, but she didn't believe that. Not in this freaky world. Who's to say it wasn't werewolves and banshees?

"So what exactly are less...lays... _les_...cat-a-comb-bays? Is that the right way to say it?" Lukas asked, struggling to pronounce the French words.

"Catacombs is what the word is in English," Ivor explained.

Jessie gave him a curious look, surprised that he knew French. Ivor was full of surprises. "So what are catacombs, then?"

Ivor started to tell them. "A series of underground tunnels—"

"Well, of course," Lukas interrupted.

"—I wasn't finished talking," Ivor said curtly. He continued: "Catacombs are a series of underground tunnels for the purposes of burying the dead. Think of it as a mass underground cemetery."

Both Jessie and Lukas made disgusted "Gah!" exclamations and shivered.

"You mean you've been leading us through a tunnel where all the _dead people are buried?!_ " Normally Lukas was calm, but to him, this crossed the line. He was _not_ going to stagger through a tunnel teeming with corpses hidden in the walls.

"That's why I waited until now to tell you," Ivor said, cheerfully indifferent to Lukas's indignation. "I knew you wouldn't want to come if I told you what a catacomb is before we started. Now relax. It's just some skeletons and coffins. They can't hurt you."

"In a world of undead and ghosts, they can!" Jessie protested. She stomped forward another step, but her foot smacked against something hard.

"Ugh," she groaned. "Lukas, can I borrow the torch for a sec?"

"Sure." He handed it to her.

"Thanks." She shone the light on whatever her foot had bumped against—and wished she hadn't done that. The unnatural grin of someone's skull leered back at her. The rest of the beheaded skeleton, partially decomposed, was lying on the ground about a meter away. Jessie dry heaved, hastily passed the torch to Lukas, and cut a wide circle around the skull as she pushed on. Knowing that the bones had once belonged to a living, breathing person like her had made it about ten thousand times more creepy (and gross) than the boring, bow-wielding skellies back home.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew," she kept whimpering, scraping her foot on the dirt as if to rub off any filth from the skull. They continued on for several more minutes, with Lukas holding the torch far out in front of him so that they could see any more corpses on the ground well before their feet bumped into them. Shadows oozed along the walls from the torchlight casting over skeletons and wooden support beams crisscrossing the ceiling of the tunnel, looking distorted and demonic in this shady realm. The White Pumpkin's mansion had nothing on the creepiness of this world.

"Please tell me we're getting close to a way out," Jessie whispered.

"It's okay," Lukas whispered back to her, patting her shoulder. "I've got your back."

"And I've got yours." Despite everything, Jessie flashed him a small smile.

"It shouldn't be much further than—oh, hello, what's this?" Ivor broke off. There was a fork in the tunnel before them. The left branch had a gauzy spider webs stretched across most of its entrance, and pools of viscous, miry slime collected on the floor in front of the right branch.

"Lovely," Ivor said thinly. "Left or right, Jessie?"

"Do I have to choose?" Jessie whined.

Ivor wasn't in the mood for arguing anymore. "Lukas, left or right?"

"I hate spiders." Lukas edged away from the left tunnel, as if a spider was going to spring out at him all of a sudden.

"Right it is, then! Let's get a move on, children!" Ivor pushed in front of Jessie and carefully stepped around the puddles of glop on the floor.

"We're not children!" Jessie protested as she followed his lead, with Lukas bringing up the back. "We're teens…"

As they continued through the tunnel, the dirt of the walls and floor gradually became despairing stone bricks, cracked and moldy with age. Burnt-out torches in iron braces were riveted to recesses in the walls, having gone out years ago with no-one to reignite them. In a valiant but vain attempt to dispel some of the darkness, Lukas used his own flambeaux to relight some of them.

"Do these catacombs go all over (or would it be under?) the whole city?" Jessie inquired, her voice echoing mightily against the hard stone surfaces surrounding them.

"Possibly," Ivor responded. "It certainly seems that way. But I couldn't say for sure. I've never been here, after all."

"Where are we, even?" Lukas asked. "I feel like we've been marching through the tunnels for an eternity."

"We're in a Monsters and Ghosts World," Ivor answered.

Lukas gave him a look (even though Ivor couldn't see it very well in the dark.) "I meant, where are we in _Les Catacombes_? We're obviously in a different section. This one's made of stone bricks instead of dirt."

The tunnel widened abruptly, giving way to what resembled a very small and crude foyer. A partial wall, with an arch built into it, separated the foyer from the rest of the structure. The arch over the doorway bore more French in imposing serifed letters: _Maison de Justice. Venir Vivre, Conge Morts._

"Ivor? A little help, please?" Jessie looked over at him, hoping for a translation.

"House of Justice," he informed her and Lukas. "It's probably a dungeon."

"Wait, they have the prison connected to the catacombs where they bury all the dead people?" Jessie cried. "That's so...morbid."

"Considering that the mission statement of the 'House of Justice' is apparently 'Come Living, Leave Dead,' I'm not surprised."

Lukas and Jessie shuddered again.

Beyond the foyer wall, the dungeon consisted of a central aisle, with two rows of cells on either side. The cells were enclosed in stone-brick walls, except for a screen of iron bars in the front. Metal doors provided a way in and out, although the huge rusty locks on the doors suggested that whoever had run the dungeon was very determined that his prisoners would _not_ get out of their cells. There were twelve cells in all in this room of the _Maison de Justice_ , neatly lining the aisle down to the set of heavy wooden double doors on the far end of the room. Normally Jessie expected a dungeon, especially one as old as this, to be infested with rats and spiders, but they were curiously missing here. Of course. The Monsters and Ghosts World was so dead that there weren't even varmints in the dungeons.

Jessie and Lukas peeked into one of the cells. It was nearly empty on the inside, save for a pair of rusty manacles bolted to the floor and a thin pile of moldy straw shoved into a corner. Its neighbor on the other side of the aisle had the same contents. Jessie withdrew, shrugged, and pointed towards the door.

"Well, there's nothing of note here," she said. "Let's keep going; I'm sure this place will lead to a courthouse or something back on the surface."

They walked along the length of the aisle, ignoring the rest of the cells. They were focused on the doors, ready to throw them open and head on to what would hopefully be the last part of their trek through the catacombs.

As they passed by the last cell, there was a sudden loud rattling sound within it that made all three of them shriek and jump in surprise, startled out of their wits by a noise they hadn't made after all that silence.

"Aaaah!"

"Aaaah!"

"AAAAH!"

Lukas whipped his torch around so quickly he almost blew it out. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"Over here," an unfamiliar girl's voice responded. Jessie's spine quivered.

"W-wh-wh-who are you?" Lukas stammered, turning to allow the torchlight to fall on the interior of the cell. It revealed a girl...a living girl, not a zombie or ghost or vampire. She had milky pale skin, black hair with a bright green streak running through it, clothes so degraded that she looked like she was wearing a pile of rags, and a pair of broken fetters on her ankles. Her eyes were hidden behind a strip of tatty cloth wrapped around her head.

"My name's Thorne." Thorne had a tiny, weak voice, as one could only expect of a girl forgotten in a dungeon, but her tone never wavered. She still spoke with purpose.

"What are you doing down here?" Ivor asked, getting down on one knee so that he was on Thorne's level. "This is not a place for little girls."

"Are you alive?" Thorne questioned.

"Huh? What kind of question is that?" Ivor scratched his head, confused.

"Are you alive?" she repeated.

"Yes…"

"Has Interrus found you?"

"Sort of…" Jessie cut in. "But we got away from him and we snuck through the catacombs and then we ended up here."

"Never mind that," Lukas said. "We're the ones who have questions to ask. Thorne, why are you stuck in a dungeon? Did Interrus lock you down here?"

Thorne mumbled a "yes."

"Oh, you poor thing. How long have you been down here?"

Throne shrugged. "I lost count."

"My, my, my," Ivor muttered under his breath. "That dastardly devil is out of control."

"Interrus is no laughing matter," Thorne said. "There's a reason why the whole city is stone and everyone is either a ghost or an undead monster."

"Interrus killed them?" Jessie guessed.

"He's collecting souls," Thorne said.

"Ah-wha? He's already dead, why does he need souls?"

"Isn't it obvious? He wants all that life force so he can come back to life and be more powerful than ever."

"I'm not really following."

"The way the story goes, is that Interrus was an ordinary person (we don't know what his real name was) who got murdered in this city. His soul is restless and wanders the earth as a ghost, and he wants to right the wrong done him by reviving himself. He stole the souls of as many people as he could find in the city, turning them into ghosts and undead monsters. His soul-stealing petrified all the life in the city to cold hard stone. Just like this dungeon."

"And how would you know that?" Ivor asked, eyeing Thorne skeptically. "And if he's killing people to take their life force, how come he left you alone?"

"I know all this because I saw it happen," Thorne said matter-of-factly. "What, you don't trust me? You don't have many other options do you...how many other living people have you met since you landed here? I can't have my soul stolen because I can see and sense ghosts, not like the other people—"

"What's with the blindfold?" Jessie interrupted.

"Huh?" Thorne brushed her hair out of her face, confused.

"That blindfold you have. Why do you wear it?"

Thorne reached up and touched the cloth around her eyes and mumbled something indistinct, apparently uncomfortable with talking about her blindfold. As she did that, a crushing realization swept over Jessie.

"Oh...You can't see, can you, Thorne?" she whispered.

Thorne fingered the blindfold again. "Interrus...when he found out that I could see ghosts and warn the others about what was happening, he...he had one of his vampire minions attack me...they clawed my face, and my eyes...it hurt. So much. But even if I couldn't see anymore, that didn't stop me from sensing when the ghosts were nearby. So he kidnapped me and put me in the _Maison de Justice_ so that I couldn't interfere with his plans."

"Aww, Thorne," a sympathetic Lukas said. "Okay. Interrus...whatever evil he's up to, we're putting a stop to it. No-one hurts a kid like that and gets away with it. Right, Jessie?"

"Oh, yes," Jessie concurred. "We have to move before Interrus uses Petra's ghost for his evil plans. We have to find a way to put her soul back in her body. Thorne, can that be done?"

"I think so, maybe," Thorne replied. "I dunno."

"Well, we need to at least try. Will you help us?"

"Will you let me out?" Thorne stood up, making the chains on her ankles jangle.

Jessie didn't hesitate for a moment. She drew her diamond sword and struck the lock on the cell door, dashing it to pieces within three blows. The door swung open, and the creak of rusty hinges alerted Thorne to such. Lukas stepped inside and helped her to her feet. Thorne dusted herself off and shook the shackles off of her ankles before stepping into the hallway. She craned her head to one side, perhaps searching for minute sounds to get a bearing of directions, then pointed towards the double doors.

"Come on," said she. "I may be blind, but I know these catacombs well. I will show you the way to Interrus's fortress."

"Are you sure?" a still-skeptic Ivor asked.

"Dead certain," Thorne replied, a bit of an ironic statement. "Now follow me. Your friend is running out of time."

 **A/N: Hey guys. Sorry for the wait for this chapter. I had a bit of a rough and crazy week—not much time to write. I'm hoping I can post chapters faster than this in the future, but I can't make any promises. Thanks for being patient.**

 **Extra A/N: Hi. If you don't mind me doing the fanfic equivalent of a public service announcement, I just wanted to say something. A little while ago, I got a guest review for Portal Party that said something along the lines of "oh no not lukesse." Now of course that piece of drivel got deleted. "Not lukesse?" Seriously? I'm not ranting about the superiority of Lukessie here, it's just that I find it incredibly immature to imply that an entire story is dumb just because someone uses a ship pairing that you don't like in it.**

 **I doubt the guest reviewer ever considered how much time I spend writing chapters of Portal Party and making sure the prose is rich and flowing to make it an enjoyable read. Instead, they basically implied that all my work on it is trash just for including little Lukessie moments. Portal Party isn't even a shipfic. The Lukessie moments are sprinkles on the ice cream for those who like that kind of fun fluff. Whatever happened to writing about what you wanted to write about? If you can't give me anything but flames that contribute nothing to my developing writing skills, don't say anything and read a different fic.**

 **It's not very fair to me to spend several hours on a chapter over the course of a week, sometimes working on one for 2.5 to 3 hours straight on Fridays and Saturdays, only to be rewarded with a dodgy guest review complaining that I ship Lukessie. I don't go out and leave nasty reviews on other fics that have ships I don't like, so why attack me? The world will continue to spin if people ship different pairings than you.**

 ***whoof* Okay, enough venting. I'll get off of my soapbox now. To sum things up: re-lax and let other people enjoy their preferred pairings.**


	7. No Body Left Behind, Pt 1

Thorne was, to Jessie's great surprise, quite adept at navigating the dungeons. She only occasionally misjudged a corner and bumped into a wall or pillar. Throughout the crawl through the underbelly of the _Maison de Justice_ , Jessie pondered and crafted theories about how Thorne knew her way around the complex without being able to see. She knew that people who were blind often had bolstered senses in other areas—maybe Thorne had a superior sense of hearing and could detect her way with minute sounds and echoes. Or maybe she had traveled underground in the dungeons and catacombs so much that she knew her way by heart already. Then there was the third possibility of her supernatural senses allowing her a "second sight" of sorts. It was annoying to not know, but whatever the story was, Thorne wasn't telling it.

Jessie had no idea how long they spent wandering through the dungeons—anything from hours to days—until Thorne finally led them to a series of imposing stairs leading upwards. They were situated behind a heavy iron gate with imposing spearpoints on its bars, that sent a clear message of permanence. But that message had eroded just as the gate's iron construction had, crumbling into ruddy rust. A silver chain was looped around the middle of the gate, holding the two doors of the gate together, with a lock dangling off of it. The chain sagged from the bars, and Jessie wondered if it wasn't slack enough that they could pry the gates open and slip through.

"Those stairs lead up into the main building of the _Maison de Justice_ —out of the dungeons," Thorne explained, pivoting to face Jessie and the others. She pointed at the gate.

"Finally!" Ivor gasped with relief. "I feel like we've been walking through these deplorable dungeons for weeks."

"Can we pry the gates open?" Lukas inquired. "The chain looks pretty slack."

"Does it?" Thorne walked up to the gate and took the chain in her small hand. She tugged on it, listening to it rattle against the iron and feeling the resistance against the pulling force. She then took hold of a gate-door in each hand and, with some effort, wrenched them apart. Some rusty hinges groaned and cracked from being twisted. The chain tightened, preventing the gates from opening any wider, until one link abruptly snapped and the whole chain fell off of the bars, landing on the floor with a clink.

"Hey, that's handy," Lukas remarked, walking forward and scooping it up off the floor. "We won't have to squeeze through the space between 'em." He stowed the broken chain in his Pocket.

Thorne shrugged and kept walking, waving the others forward. They went up the dark, nondescript stairs and entered a large, musty-smelling room on the upstairs level. The windows were dirty and dusty, muting the waning light that shone through them into a sickly pale glow. Everything in the room was tinted in a grungy gray from the filtered light. It was a courtroom, because there was a pulpit for the judge with prosecutor and defendant stands facing it, a jury bench to its side, and rows of desks for observers filling up the rest of the room. A bronze statue of Lady Justice stood behind the judge's seat. The statue, with her long hair and blindfold, resembled an older version of Thorne.

"So this is the courtroom?" Ivor asked, looking around. "Might have been more imposing in its heyday. Right now, it just looks sad."

"Many people lost their freedom forever in this room," Thorne said. "Condemned and brought straight down to the dungeons. The dungeons were where Interrus started. Lots of pained souls and nowhere for them to flee."

"I hate that guy!" Jessie growled. "Thorne, how are we going to stop him? What's the plan?"

"In order to restore the lives lost, we have to banish him to the world beyond the grave. We'll have to put his soul at rest...forcibly." Thorne let the statement hang dramatically in the air, apparently pleased with herself for coming up with such a clever line.

"Great!" Lukas said, glad to be making progress. "How are we gonna do _that_?"

"Must I know how to do everything?" Thorne seethed. She tugged on her greasy black hair in frustration.

"Oops. Sorry." Lukas ran a hand through his hair, which still needed to be touched up on with the gel.

"It'll probably take us a while to get to Interrus, anyway," Ivor chimed in. "In the meantime, I'm sure he'll have plenty of mooks from that undead army to keep us busy. We need to be ready to fight them. The rules are different in this world-not like taking on zombies and spiders back home. We need new strategies."

Jessie was confused by his ambivalent talk. "Like what?"

"Perhaps I need to explain. Monsters of myth and legend used to be a passion of mine a while ago. I, heh, might have been a little superstitious. I went around from town to town collecting all the interesting books on monsters I could find for my library."

"And?"

"Many of the books had a variety of suggestions on how to deal with the beasties should one encounter them, and ways to ward them off. Folk remedies, if you will. I found it all very intriguing."

"Did you find ways to fight vampires and ghosts?" Lukas asked. "Those seem to be our main problem here."

"Fancy you should ask. According to popular legend, the best way to kill a vampire is to pound a sharp stake through its heart with a mallet. Alternatively, you could douse the vampire in water and it will shrivel up, shrieking terribly the whole time."

Jessie made a disgusted face.

"What? I thought you wanted to know how to fight a vampire."

"Were all the gory details really necessary?"

"That wasn't gory. The description in the book was much, _much_ gorier. It said that—"

"Werewolves, what about werewolves?" Lukas asked, interrupting Ivor. He stole a reassuring glance at Jessie.

"What do you mean, werewolves?" Ivor grunted, disappointed that he wasn't going to wax lyrical about killing vampires.

"What are werewolves?" Jessie, who didn't know much about monsters, asked.

"They're these people with a curse, and they're supposed to turn into wolves on nights with a full moon. Scary stuff," Lukas said breathlessly. "I wouldn't count them out of the question in a monsters and ghosts world."

"And they don't like shiny metallic things," Ivor added. Then he glanced up at down at Jessie's gleaming Star Shield armor and said, "So I think you will be quite protected should you encounter a werewolf. Lukas, too."

"Hey, you're right." Lukas's expression brightened. He tapped his shoulder guards. "My armor is silver-plated."

Ivor frowned. "Silver? No, no. That's a ridiculously impractical choice for armor plating. I coated your armor in zirconium!"

"Pssh," Lukas scoffed. "Same thing."

Ivor started to explain about fifth period elemental metals, but Jessie interrupted him when she brought up a concern.

"Wait a minute. Lukas and I might be fine, but what about you and Thorne? You guys don't have armor."

"Great Scott! I didn't think of that." Ivor rubbed his bearded chin. "We don't have anything on hand that we could use to craft armor...Oh, I know! Jessie, do you think you could loan part of your armor to Thorne?"

"Um...I suppose so," Jessie said, holding out her arms and studying the metal plates covering them. "But Thorne is younger and smaller than me. Is my armor going to fit her?"

"Maybe not the large pieces, but your gloves and boots should do the trick," Lukas suggested.

"A couple small pieces will be fine, yeah," Thorne agreed.

Jessie yanked off her gloves and wiggled her boots off of her feet. Thorne stepped into the boots while Jessie slipped the gloves on over the girl's small hands, adjusting them to fit Thorne's wrists. Thorne stood up and waved her arms around a little.

"How do they feel?" Jessie asked.

"Heavy," Thorne responded, a bit of complaint creeping up in her voice.

"You won't have to wear them for long," Jessie promised, even though she wasn't so sure of it. "And besides, it's for safety."

Meanwhile, Lukas unbuckled the straps on his shoulder guards and handed them to Ivor. Ivor awkwardly slid them on over his arms. He wasn't used to wearing armor.

"Boy, first the French, now the know-how about monsters...Ivor, you're full of surprises," Jessie remarked as he finished putting on the silv—err, _zirconium_ armor plates.

"Why, thank you, Jessie," he replied. "But we don't have time to discuss this any longer. We need to get a stake and a mallet and then get a move on."

"On it!" Jessie ran to the side of the room where the judge's pulpit stood and rummaged around on the desk. She returned to the group holding a little wooden hammer—the judge's gavel.

"Will this do?" she asked, showing it to Ivor.

He shrugged. "I don't see why not. The books never said it had to be a huge hammer."

"Oh, wait a second." Lukas dug a large shard of wood out of his Pocket. "I picked up this chunk of wood by mistake when the platform broke. We could use it as the stake."

"Gotcha." She took it when he handed it to her. "Hey Thorne, where does that rotten Interrus skulk around, anyway?"

"His fortress...the 'Mausoleum,'" Thorne replied. "It's not really a crypt, though. More like a big tower. It's guarded by tons of monsters."

"I should have expected that," Jessie muttered. "But I'm ready, ready for any creepy thing the Monsters and Ghosts World can throw at us."

"I can take you there, too," Thorne said.

"Wait, there's one thing I want to do first," Jessie said. "Something I've always wanted to do."

"Yeah?"

Jessie suddenly struck a cool pose and brandished her mallet and stake dramatically.

"Who you gonna call?"

* * *

Night had long since fallen on the city, and a waxing gibbous moon rose above the empty streets and crumbling buildings. The nighttime air was cold and completely quiet, like death itself. Even the wind was silent. Thorne had taken them from the _Maison de Justice_ , over to a stout stone tower on the far end of the city. Jessie couldn't tell if the cramped, musty _Catacombes_ and dungeons or the eerily vacated and silent streets was the worse experience.

As they trudged along on the grimy sidewalk, Jessie could hear a tapping,clicking sound behind her, the only noise in the air beside the clink of boots slapping against the pavement. She turned to see Lukas behind her, hard at work with a pair of sticks. He had a spacey look in his eyes as he struggled to fit them together, so Jessie assumed that he was trying to use the "universal" crafting system that allowed some items to be made without the use of a crafting table.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Lukas looked up. "Who, me?"

"Uh-huh. What are you trying to make with those sticks?"

"I'll show you in just a second. Aha!" He apparently found the right configuration for his items, because they pulled together with the trademark _whoosh_ sound of a newly crafted item. Lukas held up his prize to show Jessie—a homely little crucifix. It was really nothing fancier than two sticks bound together with a piece of string,

"For warding off ghosts," he explained. "Ivor forgot to mention ghosts when we were talking to Thorne in the courtroom earlier. But he did tell me before, right before the platform collapsed, that ghosts don't like crosses. Do you think this thing will be okay?"

Jessie shrugged. "I don't know—sheesh! How do you use that, anyway? Do you just hold it out and the ghosts won't come near?"

"That's what I'm assuming," Lukas said, stowing his handiwork in his Pocket for safekeeping. "Eh, I'll keep it on hand just in case. We'll probably need it sometime."

"Fair enough." Jessie flashed him a little smile.

"So this is the Mausoleum!" Ivor said as they approached the base of the ominous stone tower. Circular in shape, it stretched up five stories overhead. It had ornate windows on each level, with a stone balcony girding the rotundity of the tower below each line of windows. Iron spikes and lightning rods stuck out of the tower in odd places, vaguely giving it the appearance of a giant gray cactus. Rusty chains and strings of bones hung off of the walls, rattling in the quiet breeze in a macabre mockery of wind chimes. A stone arch curved over the tall double doors at the base of the tower, bearing a message for visitors: _Ceux qui entrent vivants/Ne partira pas comme tel._

"Those who enter alive/Will not leave as such," Ivor mused, translating the sign. "Chilling."

"I'll bet there will be waves of mooks on each floor, and we'll have to fight through the whole group on one floor in order to proceed to the next." Thorne fiddled with the metal gloves on her hands, still uncomfortable with wearing them.

Ivor, apparently annoyed with the idea of fighting the monsters wave-style on each level, said, "This isn't a videogame, Thorne! This is real life!"

Thorne shrugged. "Do you have a better idea?"

The grumpy alchemist backed down. "No…"

Without any further ado, they moved to enter the tower. The doors wouldn't budge at first, but came down surprisingly easy when Lukas and Jessie kicked them down. The lobby-floor they were greeted with was very austere; it was little more than an empty round room with a staircase spiraling up to the next floor. A ring of short stone pillars, no bigger than pickle barrels, surrounded the stairs.

"Wait," Thorne warned, stepping to the front of the group. "Tread carefully. There's no telling what kind of traps are lurking here."

"Well, we can't stand here forever," Jessie said. "If there are monsters waiting, we'll take care of them. 'Kay?"

Thorne shrugged and kept walking. The others followed. Jessie was half-expecting the stone lumps girding the staircase to explode open and reveal monsters in hiding or a deadly trap, but to her surprise, nothing happened. That didn't stop the little group from being on edge, though, and Jessie had one hand ready to go for her sword and the other poised to grab the mallet. She hopped up on the first step and motioned for the others to follow. One after another, the foursome scaled the steps and emerged onto the next level. This one had a more flamboyant construction...and many more monsters.

"Crud," Jessie remarked as she and her friends found themselves face-to-face with a coven of seven vampires and a gaggle of zombies waiting for them.

"You've been waiting for us this whole time, haven't you?" Lukas, for some unfathomable reason, asked a vampire. It responded by hissing to show its teeth and swiping at him. Lukas squealed and staggered backward.

"My hero," Jessie grumbled, and dug the mallet and stake out of her Pocket, then tossed it to Blond Guy. "Lukas, here! You and Ivor take on the vampires; Thorne and I will fight the zombies!" She whipped out her sword and quickly whisked it in a circle, relieving two incoming zombies of their heads. Thorne seemed hardly fazed at all by the violence, but then again, she hadn't actually _seen_ it, only heard it. Jessie quickly tossed her spare stone sword to Thorne, who seemed to sense it coming and snatched it in midair.

It wasn't until she got into the heat of the fight, hacking and chopping with her weapon, that Jessie reconsidered the wisdom of giving a weapon to a blind girl. But a few moment's observations proved her concerns unnecessary. Thorne was a little clumsy with the sword, perhaps from inexperience, but she could either hear, smell, or somehow else sense the oncoming enemies and attack with marvelous precision.

Meanwhile, Lukas and Ivor were frantically tossing the mallet and stake back and forth between themselves as they grappled with the vampires. Lukas was clearly hesitant about attempting to kill the humanoid vampires, even though they hadn't shown much evidence of sentience in the samplings the group had had of them. Lukas _was_ pretty squeamish about that sort of thing.

"Fight them, Lukas!" she shouted.

He struck out feebly at a vampire with the mallet and stake. "I can't do it!" he wailed.

"Oh, for the love of...Give me that, you big wuss!" Ivor grabbed the weapon out of his hand and skewered the monster with the stake. Its body poofed away into thick black smoke.

Lukas looked like he was going to throw up. "Those things are so gross! Their blood is _black_ —did you see that? Yuck!"

"No, Lukas, I'm afraid I was too busy fighting for survival to notice the particular color of the vampires' blood," Ivor replied testily, staking another vampire as it approached. "Maybe you should fight zombies instead, if you're going to wimp out like that."

Lukas looked embarrassed.

"Ugh...There!" Jessie dealt the finishing blow on a zombie, letting it fall on the floor and poof into dust. "I think that's the last of the monsters."

The floor was now empty save for the four intrepids. Thorne was smiling like she'd just uncovered a diamond lode, obviously very proud of herself for helping Jessie defeat the zombies. Ivor stuffed the mallet and stake in his Pocket and looked over at Lukas, considering whether to berate him some more for wimping out in the middle of the fight, but then he just shrugged. Now that the initial excitement had worn off, they noticed a series of dusky blue jars sitting on stone shelves in the walls.

"Hey, what are these?" Lukas picked up one and examined it. It was made of a lightweight, brittle blue rock, with tiny bits of quartz sparkling in it. The outside of the jar was carved all over with funny little drawings of suns and stars.

"They're interesting." Jessie snatched another jar off the shelves and pulled off the lid. Inside, the jar was aglow with colorful light, which didn't seem to be coming from any discernable source. It was as if the light itself was trapped inside the jar. She made an interested "hmm" sound, then casually threw it on the floor and smashed it. Thorne squeaked, startled by the noise.

"Jessie!" Ivor snapped. "What's gotten into you?"

"Smashing things is kind of fun," Jessie offered for a lame excuse. "Great stress relief."

"You can't just go around breaking things as you please—that might have been important!"

"Okay, Grandpa," Jessie replied sarcastically.

Ivor grimaced. "Don't you dare call me a grandpa! I'll have you know I never married. I've been a bachelor my whole life."

Lukas stifled a giggle.

Thorne threw up her hands in frustration. "Why are we even talking about this?"

Lukas stopped laughing. "Err...she's right. We have to rescue Petra ASAP."

Jessie sighed and started towards the next flight of stairs circling up to the floor above. "All right. Let's go."

The next three levels were like the one they had just conquered. They would arrive on the floor, be "greeted" less than cordially by monsters, have to fight those beasties, encounter more of the weird stone jars...rinse and repeat. Jessie actually found herself yawning all the way through a zombie battle on the fourth floor. When all the monsters were destroyed, she mustered the group and headed up the stairs one last time, prepared to start a fight all over again for the final level. But that didn't happen.

The final level was a tall room with a peaked ceiling. It had no windows, and as soon as the gang climbed onto the floor, a trapdoor banged shut over the hatch they had crawled in through and cut off the light from the room below. Thus, the were caught in near-total darkness. The only illumination in the room was a pale grayish-blue glow coming from…

...Ghosts. Dozens, if not hundreds, of ghosts floated in the air around them. The restless souls of men, women, girls, boys, and even a few animals stared back at them. Thorne was twitching and shivering, her supernatural ghost-sense overwhelmed by the crowd of specters.

Jessie was star-struck. "Uh...Hi, ghosts? Do you speak? ...Or do you understand me, at least?"

The ghost of a middle-aged man drifted down towards them, until he was eye level with Jessie. When he did that, a cold, clammy draft breezed over the foursome, making them shudder. The ghost-man looked long and hard at Jessie, and then nodded.

"We're looking for a friend. Her name is Petra. Interrus made her into a ghost, and we need her back. She looks like a redheaded girl wearing fancy armor. Have you see her? Do you know where she is?" Jessie questioned, hoping he really could understand.

Again the ghost-man looked spacey as he considered it—apparently, ghosts needed extra time to think and consider things—then nodded again. Then, to Jessie's surprise, he spoke.

"She is here."

 **A/N: Ha! You thought Portal Party was dead, didn't you? ...I'm sorry. It's not summertime anymore. I can't sit at my desk and work on a chapter all day long. :(**

 **In the meantime, and in case I can't wrap up this arc before the end of the month...Happy Hallowe'en!**

 **OooooWooOOoo spooooooky! :D**


	8. No Body Left Behind, Pt 2

**A/N: "Oh my stars, Taigona...what took so long?" The answer is, look...this isn't an easy year for me. Real-life stuff gets in the way. Thank you all for being understanding about the long waits. I have another reason for this chapter being so late: I've started writing some of the subsequent chapters to A) P.A.W. [put away writer's-block] and B) have them mostly finished already, so I can knock them out more easily and hopefully be able to update faster.**

Jessie was floored. "She is?" That couldn't be the case, right? It would be too easy. There had to be some kind of challenge or mistaken identity or something like that. The rule of an adventurer is, "If something seems too easy, there's a nasty catch." At least, Jessie was pretty sure that adventurers had a rule like that.

"Hey." Thorne poked Jessie's shoulder. "Do you want to meet your friend or not?"

"Huh!" Jessie snapped out of her contemplating the challenges of an adventurer, coming back to reality. "Of course I want to meet up with Petra...Where is she?"

"Ask the ghost man," Lukas suggested flatly. "If he knows that Petra...Petra's ghost is here, then he probably knows where she is, too. Right?"

"Seems like a reasonable line of logic," Ivor conceded. "So ask the ghost man!"

"All right, all right!" Jessie gasped, feeling rather harried all of a sudden, and turned to the ghost-man who was still floating idly beside her. "Where is Petra?"

The ghost didn't answer. He just bobbed up and down in the stale air, staring at her blankly.

"Where...is...Pet-ra?" Jessie said with a doubling in volume and a halving in speed, in case the ghost had somehow not understood the question.

More blank stares. Jessie grunted and threw her hands in frustration. She decided to consult Thorne for help—maybe _she_ would know how to deal with uncooperative ghosts.

"Thorne, any suggestions?" she requested. "The ghosts won't talk to me. ...That has to be one of the weirdest lines I've ever said, and believe me, I've had some real humdingers."

Thorne sighed, probably inwardly lamenting how the others expected her to know everything, but she conceded. "Ghosts don't like to talk to mortals. Or at least not ordinary mortals like you. You all are special to even be able to see ghosts in the first place—most people can't—but apparently that's not enough for these guys. Let me handle this."

"Okey-dokey, then," Jessie replied, standing aside. "Dazzle us, Thorne."

Thorne may have given Jessie a weird look as she stepped up to the ghost man, but it was hard to tell with the blindfold. The ghosts perked up, floating down to be closer to her. Even the animal ghosts were interested.

Thorne cleared her throat. "Excuse me, but can you tell us where Petra's ghost is at the moment? Is she among you, or elsewhere in the Mausoleum?"

The specters made a low murmuring sound as they whispered to each other, and then said, "Among us!"

"She's real prickly," the ghost of a little boy commented randomly. "She talks about how her soul was 'stolen' n' stuff like that. And something about wanting her armor back."

"That's Petra!" Jessie announced triumphantly. "Okay...Um...This might take a while."

Jessie waded through the horde of ghosts (what is a group of ghosts called, anyway?), trying to find her redheaded friend. It wasn't an easy task. Any color on a ghost was muted to a grayish blue, making it difficult to spot Petra's fiery hair among the rabble.

"This is bad," she muttered as she elbowed aside specters (well, she sort of elbowed them aside...it was hard to do when they didn't actually have tangible bodies. But they got the hint nonetheless and moved out of the way.) Would she ever find her friend? She felt like she was really grasping at straws here.

"If only this could be as easy as fighting mobs," the girl lamented as she waved specters out of her way. Turns out, that was just the right thing to say.

"Jessie? You were fighting mobs without me?" a loud and familiar voice shouted from the back of the room.

Jessie yelped and ran to the sound of the sound. "Petra? Is that you? ...Could y'all move aside, please?"

Mumbling, the sea of specters parted to allow Jessie through, with Ivor, Lukas, and Thorne tailing. Behind them, Petra floated, pale and translucent.

"Hi, guys," she said sadly. "Glad you found me."

"This is great," Jessie commented. "Now we're on the fast track to victory. That ghostmaster guy is so gonna get it."

"Um…" Ivor piped up. "Let's not get too excited."

"What? Why?"

"It's good that we could rescue Petra, but this doesn't mean anything if we can't find her cadaver and put the two halves together."

"Do you have to use the word 'cadaver?'" Petra moaned. "I'm not dead, you know."

"Super. We don't know where her corpse is." Jessie facepalmed. "Does anyone know how we should find it?"

After a brief pause, all eyes were on Thorne. However, there was the teensy problem that Thorne couldn't actually see them looking at her. Thus, there was an awkward pause hanging over the room.

"Why's everyone so quiet all of a sudden?" the blind girl asked. "There's a question to be answer—oh. That's why." She breathed out an overly dramatic sigh.

"Thorne, do you know where Interrus is keeping corpses? I'm assuming you know."

"Nyah, nyah, nyah. nyah, I'm assuming you know," Thorne mocked, obviously annoyed that they were relying on her help yet again. She turned aside to relay the question to the ghosts.

Meanwhile, Jessie breathlessly filled Petra in on everything that had happened since Interrus made her a ghost: running away from the vampires, walking through the catacombs, Ivor somehow being fluent in French, finding Thorne, why Thorne was blind, why Thorne was still alive and not a minion of Interrus the ghostmaster, the brief stint gathering supplies and armoring up in the courtroom, how they had found the Mausoleum, how Lukas apparently had known to craft a crucifix for dealing with unfriendly ghosts, fighting the monsters on the various levels of the Mausoleum, and finally, finding Petra among the ghosts.

"Dang it!" Petra complained when Jessie was done. "I missed out on an entire adventure?!"

Jessie shrugged. "I think we'll have plenty more to make up for it."

"You know, that Thorne chick is being kind of disagreeable," Petra observed. "Has she been like this the whole adventure?"

"Nah." Jessie shook her head. "Just now. I think she's getting annoyed by having to be the one to do all the work."

"She did not do _all_ the work!" Ivor protested. "Who was the one who directed us through _Les Catacombes_ and gave you all instructions on how to deal with the monsters?"

"Guys," Thorne announced, running into their midst. "In the bottom-most layer of the tower, the basement, is the actual crypt part of the Mausoleum. The biggest grave there is a gateway between here and the realm beyond the grave. We have to lure Interrus down there and push him through the gateway to finally get rid of him. We have to be fast, though. The gateway only opens when the new moon is rising, and after that, it shuts for a really long time. Plus, I hear that doing it will release so much energy that a portal out of this dimension will open. I wasn't even aware that there were other dimensions."

"When the new moon is rising?" Ivor scoffed. "How cliché."

"Maybe so," Thorne replied, "but it's our only hope."

"Wait a minute," Lukas said. "Did you get all that from the ghosts?"

The blind girl nodded. "Uh-huh. They see more than the ghostmaster gives them credit for. ...And they've seen it before...when other dimension travelers stood up to them, and _he_ threw them through the gateway instead."

Jessie shivered. That could happen to _them_. This was a lot more dangerous than their romp through the Water World.

"W-What happened to those people?" Lukas inquired.

Thorne's expression darkened. "I hope you believe in heaven, 'cause they say that it's instant death."

The crew collectively gulped. Even Petra looked shaken.

Jessie clenched her fists, mustering courage. "Look, as dangerous as this is, we have to try. If the portal to the Hallway will reopen when we get rid of the bad guy, we have to be ready."

"Well, that's all well and good, but we're still forgetting something," Petra cut in. "I'm still a ghost." She waved her transparent arms around to prove her point.

"Hmm," Jessie moaned. "If this is Interrus's big fortess, and it used to be a crypt, maybe there's still part of the original mausoleum around here somewhere."

"Wait a tick," Thorne said, listening as a ghost whispered in her ear. "There is one...a crypt, like you said. Way at the bottom of the tower…"

* * *

"The ghosts said that this was the Showroom," Thorne said as they descended a set of spiral staircases into a long, atmospheric room. As soon as the group stepped on the threshold, there was a loud _whooshing_ sound and bracket torches mounted on the stone walls flickered to life, blazing softly with white flame.

"Whoa!" Jessie breathed when it happened. "That must've been magic or something!"

"At least I didn't have to light the torches," Lukas said. "That's a plus."

Now that the torches had, by magic or some other device, ignited, they threw clear light over the room. The Showroom itself wasn't terribly exciting, just a mostly plain stone room like the rest of the lot of scenery in the Monsters and Ghosts world. The bricks in the walls were old but still held together well. Perhaps the Interrus, the ghostmaster, had witched the Mausoleum to hold together despite its age. There were carved stone pillars running alongside the walls to hold the heavy roof up, but the etchings were faded and scuffed beyond recognition.

The focal point of the room, then, was the arrangement on the floor: dozens of showy glass coffins. They were laid in staggered rows, the torchlight glinting harshly off of their reflective covers. They were set on brass bases, and the covers were sealed shut with ornate padlocks. Each coffin had a metal plate engraved with the deceased's name and dates.

"Now I know what you mean by 'Showroom,'" Ivor commented as the group stared at the morbid spectacle.

"It's got a double meaning," Thorne added. "This is where he keeps the corpses of all the most dangerous victims on display. Like a trophy room."

"Ugh!" Lukas grunted. "That's even creepier than the catacombs...that's just _sick_!"

"So he thinks I'm one of his most dangerous victims?" Petra asked, perking an eyebrow. "Huh. Can't say as if I take offense to that."

"Fan out, everyone," Jessie instructed. "Let's find which one of these belongs to Petra." She went down the rows of sarcophagi, peering inside each one to see if Petra's armored body was in one of them. Most of the cadavers in the coffins were those of beefy, thuggish men. Probably notorious criminals, Jessie figured. Many of them had heavy black armor on, or carried a rusty weapon in their dead hands. After a while, it started to creep Jessie out, so she excused herself from the midst of the Showroom and leaned against the wall.

"Don't tell me you're ready to give up, Jessie," Ivor reprimanded as he walked past. "We've come much too far to throw in the towel."

"Just taking a break," she responded, her voice trailing off.

"Is something bothering you?"

Jessie shrugged, but she wouldn't look him in the eye.

"Something's bothering you."

"I don't want to say it. You'll just say I'm being a nervous nellie."

"Try me."

Jessie sighed. "I'm worried about how this whole 'portal opening' business. Like, with the Portal Hallway and everything. It sounds risky. Thorne didn't even say how long the portal would be open or how stable it would be, and we have to push four people through it."

Ivor didn't say anything. He wasn't really much of an encourager. "We have to do what we can to get out of here. Haven't we been here long enough?"

"Yeah. That's right." Jessie adjusted the straps on her gauntlets—their fit seemed off ever since Thorne gave them back to her after wearing them in the Mausoleum.

"Jessie!" Lukas called from the back of the room. "I've found her!"

A chorus of "You have?" was shouted by the others, and they flocked to him. He was standing next to the smallest of the coffins. Unlike the other sarcophagi, it wasn't collecting dust and cobwebs; it had been recently disturbed. Jessie dared a peek behind the glass cover. She saw vibrant red hair and blue armor accented with gold. She looked up at the others, particularly at Ghost-Petra, and grinned.

"Score."

"What about the lock?" Lukas pointed at the hefty padlock on the cover.

"I don't think that's going to be a problem, babe," Jessie responded with a wink. She unsheathed her diamond sword, twirled it in her hand for emphasis, and then brought it crashing down on the coffin lid. The glass shattered from the blow.

"My stars!" Thorne exclaimed.

Ghost-Petra floated over to the remains of the coffin and sat next to the corpse lying supine atop it. There was a great flash of light, as if lightning had struck the room, and the two Petras disappeared. A surge of energy radiated from the spot. When the dust settled, there was Petra, alive and tangible, sitting casually where her ghost had been just a second ago.

"Ah. Much better," she sighed, relieved. "Thanks, guys."

Jessie was about to offer a "No problem," when a deep rumbling drowned her out. It made the walls quiver and the torchlight flicker.

"I don't think that's a harbinger of good," Ivor said nervously. "The last time we heard that rumbling…"

Speak of the devil. Trickles of black smoke seeped into the room from all sides, appearing to come through the cracks in the brick walls, until they converged at a point on the floor before them. They congealed into a single mass, which grew and formed itself into a humanoid shape.

"I felt the life energy," the dreadful, emotionless voice droned. "What trickery are you wastrels up to?"

"End of the line, Interrus!" Jessie snarled. "I've had enough of you! You hurt my friends and you blinded an innocent kid and you murdered an entire city! You're done!"

He hissed like a snake. "Done? Hardly. I have four fresh souls for my...purposes, ready for the reaping. I believe it may be just enough to finally bring me back to life with the power I need. I'll be virtually immortal."

"You won't be very immortal when we're done with you," Jessie sneered. "If you're gonna be immortal, it will be in Hell!"

"Rather boastful for a teenaged girl, don't you think? You can't do it. Perhaps you should give up now and avoid the pain. My armies can't tear up your soul, but they can give your carnal self much agony before you finally _die_ and become one of them."

A shrill "No!" was Jessie's response.

"Pssh, heroes. They always have to do things the hard way." He waved his silver scythe around like a wand. Blue stone jars materialized in the air around him. With a pop and a flash of light, they summoned groups of zombies and skeleton archers.

"Dang! He's summoning monsters!" Jessie shouted to the group, batting away oncoming zombies with her sword. She stole a quick glance over her shoulder to see Ivor and Petra cutting down the undead with their weapons. Petra had a gleam of excitement in her inky-colored eyes.

"Come get some, marrow brain!" she taunted as she sliced a skeleton in half with her trusty golden sword. She kicked away the upper half of its torso, which struck a zombie and stunned it. Ivor hacked and slashed, running the stone blade of his sword through the zombies as they ganged up on him. Even Thorne was fighting, lashing out with kicks and punches to repel the mobs coming at her.

But no matter how fiercely they fought against the monsters, it seemed like more were coming still.

Jessie looked up. The stone jars continued to crank out waves of monsters, throwing the "seeds" around like glitter. They were just like the jars they had found on the other levels of the Mausoleum, she noted.

"Jessie!" Ivor yelled. "We can't take on all these monsters!"

"There's too many of them!" Thorne wailed. "They just keep on coming!"

Interrus, in a rare display of emotion, cackled.

...Wait a minute. On the other levels of the Mausoleum, they had to fight waves of monsters. And when they were done, another squad of them appeared to cut through...until after Jessie smashed the blue jars. That was how they defeated each story of the tower.

Jessie gasped, having figured it out. "Guys, the jars. They're monster spawners! We have to destroy them!"

"But how?" Petra asked, diving to avoid a volley of arrows shot at her by the skeletons she was fighting. "The ghostmaster will knock us down if we get too close to the jars."

"Leave that to me!" Lukas said. "I'll distract him. You guys smash the monster spawners."

"I hope you know what you're doing," Petra warned him.

Lukas shrugged. "I don't, not really. But I'm gonna do it anyway."

"Okay." The two girls re-entered the fray, pushing back the monsters to protect Lukas as he dashed over to Interrus, who was watching the battle with mild intrigue.

"Hey, ugly!" Lukas taunted. "What do you think of _this_?"

A homely little cross went flying at the ghost-master. Jessie was expecting a whole lot of nothing to result from that, but to her utmost surprise, it actually gave him some pause.

"Get that away from me!" Interrus snarled.

"I've found your weakness! I've found your weakness!" Lukas jeered, scooping it off the ground and chucking it at him again. The ghost-master hissed and dodged away from the "holy artifact."

"Boy, if you had told me earlier today that Lukas was going to be fighting a juggernaut ghost by throwing a homemade crucifix at him, I'd have said you were crazy," Petra commented as she and Jessie broke through a line of skeletons, getting closer to the floating stone jars.

"I was thinkin' the same thing," Jessie replied. "Lukas is kind of a nerd, but he really comes through in a pinch. Should we use the Warrior Whip?"

"We haven't done that one in a while. Not since we were fighting in that temple with the Sky City portal."

"Well, now's a good time to start again!"

Petra held out her golden sword to Jessie, who took hold of it. Petra held on tight while Jessie spun around and around, gaining momentum. After several revolutions, she let go, sending Petra whipping across the air. The redheaded girl twirled in midair, the golden blade flashing in a sharp-edged flurry around her. She collided with the stone jars, which smashed to pieces in the oncoming fury of her sword. Petra bobbled the move slightly and ended up landing spreadeagled on her stomach.

"Ouch!" she grunted, then got back on her feet. There was a trail of shattered stone fragments in her wake from the destroyed jars.

Interrus gasped and cursed at the sight. "No! How did you do that?" He shivered, his power weakened.

"The gateway!" Thorne exclaimed, while Ivor finished off the last of the monsters. "It's opening. Do it and do it fast, Jessie!"

"What's opening?" Interrus roared. The cool, suave, emotionless side of him was long gone; now, it was just unadulterated rage.

Above the largest of the coffins in the room, the air itself broke apart to reveal a hole full of gray smoke. The fumes curled out of the hole, forming into skull shapes.

Interrus snarled when he realized what was going on. "Ha! You really think you'll be able to banish me?"

"We don't think; we know," Jessie boasted. She dodged out of the way as Interrus lunged for her.

"Hey, you!" Thorne taunted, jumping around to get his attention. "Why don't you pick on someone from your own world?"

"Thorne, no!" Jessie gasped. "Don't!"

Interrus sped over to the blind girl and grabbed her by the neck. He growled and snarled, attempting to pull out her soul and make her a ghost. Jessie couldn't bear to see it and covered her eyes. She was expecting to hear Thorne shriek at any second, but she heard no such thing.

Instead, what she heard was Thorne saying, "Nice try."

"W-What?" Interrus gawked. "You should be a ghost right now; what's going on?"

"I think you forgot something," the girl responded. "You can't take my soul, remember?"

She took advantage of the moment, wrestling free of his grip while holding on to his arms. In one quick motion, she spun around and threw the ghost-master at the gaping gateway to oblivion. He disappeared as he fell inside, exploding into a mass of brown bats. The little flying animals swarmed out of the gateway and filled the room.

"Whoa!" the others yelled, amazed. Except for Jessie. She was terrified of the bats and ran pell mell in a panic.

The ground started to shake underfoot. The gray portal morphed into a green one framed about in emerald and gold.

"Jessie! It's the portal out of here!" Lukas exclaimed, then noticed that his friend was freaking out because of the bats. He caught her as she ran past and held her hand.

"Bats, bats, bats!" Jessie whimpered. "I hate bats."

"We have to get to the portal, and quick," Lukas said. "We don't have a lot of time."

"Hurry, guys," Thorne shouted, pointing to the portal. "Before it closes up again!"

The foursome rushed towards the portal, with Petra in the lead, Ivor following, and Jessie and Lukas bringing up the back. Ivor and Petra dove right in, disappearing through the green goo.

"Wait!" Lukas cried before they jumped through. He looked back to Thorne, who hadn't made a move to leave. "What about you? Thorne, come with us. It's the least we can do for you after all your help."

The blind girl shook her head. "I have to stay here. The city is waking up again."

"Aw, Thorne," Jessie sighed. "We don't want you to be all by your lonesome forever."

Thorne smiled a little. "I won't be. We'll see each other again someday. I can feel it in my soul."

"Well, good-bye until then," Lukas and Jessie said. "Thanks for everything."

Thorne gently pushed them through the portal. There was a surge of space-time energy, and then the doorway out of the Monsters and Ghosts world zipped shut.

* * *

Jessie and her friends were spit out the portal into the familiar dark hallway. They barely had time enough to say Jack Robinson before a cloud of little brown bats came swarming out. They zipped around the airspace in dizzy loops and circles, squeaking continually.

"Aaaah!" Petra screeched, waving her hands around her head to shoo away the bats. Ivor ran in circles, shouting "Baaaaaaats!"

And Jessie? Well, she took off clear down the hallway. Anything to get away from those bats!

 **And now Arc 2 is a wrap! :D Thanks for reading. Jessie and her friends will be doing a little Time Traveling in the next arc. Excitement!**


	9. A Timely Arrival

Lukas ran after Jessie as she scurried down the hall to get away from the bats, while Petra and Ivor discussed who was going to get to pick the next portal. The cloud of bats flew crazily around the Portal Hallway, screeching and squeaking, until they found overhangs in the shadowy ceiling to dangle from and rest. Eventually they quieted down and the foursome could hear themselves think again. Lukas returned, holding Jessie's hand and patting her on the shoulder reassuringly.

"I hate, hate, hate bats!" Jessie cried, shuddering. "With their little hairy bodies and their leather wings and their icky little feet...ugh!"

"It's okay, it's okay," Lukas soothed. "They're just a bunch of teensy bats. They're not gonna hurt you. See, they're hiding now. Maybe they're more scared of you than you are of them."

"Are you seriously scared of _bats_?" Petra asked, bewildered, as Jessie and Lukas approached.

"They're scary when they're in a big swarm like that," Jessie mumbled, sounding like a frightened eight-year-old. Petra just rolled her eyes.

"We're still deciding on a portal," Ivor informed them, trying to change the subject. He didn't feel like joining the discussion about Jessie's chiroptophobia, not when there were still a lot of portals to try.

"Ivor still wants to go through that dumb pink portal," Petra griped.

"Well, we have to try it eventually!" Ivor defended. "Besides, it's my turn to choose. You just got to pick, Petra, and you chose the one that went to a world full of monsters."

"I got turned into a freakin' _ghost_ , Ivor," Petra responded tightly. "I think you could say I learned my lesson. No need to give me any lectures."

"What was it like being a ghost?" Lukas asked, innocently insensitive.

She just gave him a dirty look.

"Pink portal it is! I claim it!" Ivor announced, pointing at the bright pink portal encased in a quartz and gold frame.

"But we don't know what world that is," Lukas said. "The last two worlds we were in were kind of...dangerous."

Ivor sniffed. "How will we know if it's our world if we don't try it, blond guy?"

"Why does everyone call me Blond Guy?" Lukas muttered under his breath.

Jessie stepped forward. "Just be careful. Don't charge through the portal like—"

Ivor took off toward the pink portal.

"—last time," Jessie said. "Welp, there he goes again. He always gets so excited whenever we go through a new portal."

"Yep," Lukas agreed. "All that's missing is the—"

"Adventure!" Ivor bellowed, and then he disappeared through the pink screen. By now, Jessie was starting to wonder if he liked having new "Adventures!" more than he actually wanted to go home. What a strange, strange man. Sometimes he acted like the fifty-year-old he was, and sometimes he acted like he wasn't any older than ten.

Lukas turned to Jessie. "Well, we can't let him run around in there alone."

She nodded. "Yep. Let's go."

* * *

Jessie would admit that wasn't sure what exactly she had been expecting from the pink portal, but she was surprised at what she saw regardless. She had figured that the pretty pink and gold portal would have a vibrant, lively, fun (and hopefully safe!) world waiting behind it. And of course, she still had that tiny sliver of hope that it might be their homeworld. The world that greeted her didn't satisfy those expectations.

They were standing in the midst of a wide and mostly flat field. It was round and stretched out for a couple kilometers before being cut off by a ridge of tall, pointed rocks. The grass underfoot was dry and more brown than green. Leafless trees with dark bark sparsely dotted the plain. Crows and owls perched in their branches, their caws and hoots carrying on the thick air. Overhead, thin covers of gray and blue clouds drifted past. In the center of the field, there was a tall and circular wall of yellow bricks, with a wooden gate at the front. Fossilized bones lay half-sunken in the ground in many places.

"Aw, no," Petra moaned. "This is just like the dead city. Can't we visit a world that's actually _lively_ for once?"

"This is...peculiar," Jessie commented. "This looks like a place for a Capture the Flag competition or something."

"Except it's a very dreary place," Ivor observed. "Like it's dying or waiting for something."

"I'm waiting for us to do something," Petra sneered. "Where's the portal? We should just turn around and go back."

Everyone shrugged.

"Maybe it's behind those yellow brick walls," Lukas suggested, pointing to the lone structure in the field.

"Good idea," Jessie agreed. "And it's probably our best bet for finding any people in this place, too."

The group started nonchalantly walking to the walled-off part of the field. It must have rained recently, because the ground was soft and squished under their feet. As they went along, Jessie noticed some flowers poking out of the grass, but all of them were either drooping or brown. She hoped there weren't any zombies or vampires to harass them in this world.

"This is a really small world," Petra said, breaking the silence. "I wonder if there's anything at all beyond that stone ridge around the edge of this field."

"Kinda reminds me of Sky City in that sense," Ivor said. "Little world with a lot of potential. I wonder why so many things here look like they're dying, though."

"Who knows what kind of interesting people we'll meet in this world?" Jessie wondered aloud. "We met Tiberius in the Water World and Thorne in the Ghosts World. And this world we'll meet…?"

"Who?" asked a hooting owl in a nearby tree.

"That's just what I was wondering!" Jessie called over her shoulder to the bird. She chuckled, amused by her own joke. "We always meet at least one interesting person in each world."

"You know, I didn't really like Tiberius," Petra said. "He was kind of annoying. Did anybody think he was all that great?"

There was a slight pause, and then everyone in the group shook their heads.

"I thought so, but I wasn't sure."

After a couple minutes they reached the wall. It was about four meters high and built of shoebox-sized bricks of yellow stone. Despite the quiet decay of the world around, the bricks were curiously unaffected by any sign of age. They were crisply cut and smooth on their faces, as if they had been quarried and carved just this morning. The wall itself was rounded in a gentle curve, but it was hard to judge its diameter from the friends' current vantage point. Jessie and the others stood in front of the gate, examining its solid wood construction and metal reinforcement bars.

"Well, it won't do to stand here gawking at it all day," Ivor said as he took hold of one of the metal handles on the gate. The doors rattled and didn't budge.

"We came all that way just for the gate to be locked? If this is the only remarkable feature in this rotten world and the gates to it are locked, we're in trouble," Petra grumbled.

"Try pushing on them instead," Jessie suggested, ignoring Petra's doom and gloom.

So Ivor did, and the gates flung themselves wide open. He looked back at Jessie, an embarrassed grin creeping across his face. He waved the others forward, and they proceeded into whatever awaited them in the walled-off area.

The place was no bigger than the floorspace of a typical house. Underfoot, the ground was made of tidy paved stone. Each tile stone was perfectly square and sanded smooth on top. They were set in staggered rows stretching from one edge of the walls to another. White stone pillars stood at random points on the field of tiles, but they held up nothing. The walled-off area was open to the sky.

They didn't need to walk for very long before the white pillars were replaced with timepieces—clocks and hourglasses. Some were ornate, set in gold and sparkling with studded gems. Others were plain, contained in homely wooden casing with dusty glass and tarnished bronze. There were tall grandfather clocks that soared over Jessie's head, but also tiny pocket watches that she could have scooped up and held in one hand. However, despite the age of the timepieces and the various states of repair and disrepair they were in, all of the clocks ran in perfect synchronization, tick-tocking in time to each other. When they struck the hour, they all rang out their chimes in unison. The hourglasses hiding among the clocks leaked sand from one globe to another slowly but consistently. Everything here was fine-tuned for the delicate purpose of accurately keeping the time.

"Glory be!" Ivor exclaimed, marveling at them. "Who set all these clocks and hourglasses?"

"I'm impressed they managed to get the clocks to go in sync like they do," Lukas said, picking up a small, old-fashioned alarm clock from the ground and examining it. It abruptly went off with a shrill ringing, and Lukas was so startled that he dropped it. It hit the ground, clattering loudly. The other three turned and stared at him.

"Oops," Lukas apologized. "I...didn't know it was gonna do that."

"It's not like there's anyone else around to hear it," Petra said.

"Are you so sure of that?" Jessie pointed at something at the end of the pathway. A large, tall chair made of silver and gold stood at the end of the pathway they were walking on. A hunched-over figure sat in it.

"Oh, wow," Lukas said. "Do you think he heard us?"

The others shrugged.

"One way to find out," Ivor stated, nodding at the chair and its occupant. "Besides, maybe he knows the way out of here."

All eyes were on Jessie.

"Aw, come on, guys," she grumbled. "How come I always have to be the one to make the first move?"

"Because you're the leader," Ivor responded. "Leaders start, and followers, um...follow. Be brave!"

Jessie gingerly approached the man in the chair. He sat with his shoulders drooping, his arms lazily draped on the sides of the chair, and his chin tilted forward so that it touched to his chest. He snored heartily as he sat like that, so he was obviously asleep. He was bald, and his face was creased with wrinkles. His beard spilled off of his chin, into his lap, and over his knees down to his feet, covering him like a hairy white blanket. Clad in an old gray robe with loads of hourglasses and clocks surrounding him on his throne, the man looked exactly like the picture Jessie had in mind whenever Father Time was mentioned.

"E-excuse me?" she said in a subdued call. "Mister? Excuse me, Mister?"

No answer. The bearded man continued snoozing.

"Helloooooooo?" she yodeled, the sound echoing off the walls.

Still no luck.

" _Mister?_ " Jessie shouted. " _Hello?_ "

"Huh-ga-wuh?" the old man gibbered as he was jolted awake by Jessie's shouting. "Who said that?"

"Oh. That was me, mister," Jessie replied, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Who art thou, wastrel?" he demanded, adjusting his spectacles (they had slipped off his nose while he was sleeping.) "And wherefore thou wakest me up? I was much indulged to sweetly slumber until thou camest hither and made thy great noise!"

Jessie gawked. "Ah-wha?"

"Ye callow youths, going about with your shouting and shrieking and your making of a great din! It be too much for mine ears to bear. But I digress, and humor thee therewithal. From whence hast thou come, O child, brazen youth?"

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Soft and marry! Dost thou have no comprehension? Doth my words fall on ears tragically deaf? I holdeth all the intricacies of time, I be Father Time thus, yet it evades me to merely make a callow youth to understand? Fah! A pox and plague on it!"

So he _was_ Father Time! What were the odds? But still there was the problem of the way he talked...Jessie still could make neither head nor tail of it. She glanced over her shoulder at Ivor and mouthed, _Help me_. If he understood French, maybe he understood Ye-Olde-Englyshe as well?

Ivor just shrugged and upturned his palms helplessly at her.

"This is a load of zombieflesh!" Jessie whispered to her friends through gritted teeth. She was losing patience.

"Jessie!" Ivor said. "Watch your language. Who taught you to talk like that?"

"I don't know what to say to you, Jess, sorry!" Lukas said. "Sorry…"

Just then, their deliverance came in the form of a bright young man, who ran in from behind the group. He interposed himself between Jessie's gang and Father Time, paused to catch his breath, and then straightened up and offered an apology for the confusion.

"Hello, hello. Please excuse my father. He has a bit of trouble keeping up with the times."

"Soft! Wherefore thou accusest me?" an indignant Father Time piped up. "'Tis not in thy place. Introduce thyself, son; make thyself known."

"Okay, then. Curious travelers, my name is Clockwürk, son of Father Time, son of Mother Nature. It's a delight to meet you." Clockwürk offered them a small, polite bow. He had shiny brown hair, an easy smile, and a gallant glint in his amber eyes. He wore a gray sweater and practical brown pants, with a cheerful red bandanna around his neck. In one hand, he held a large watch on a chain; it was made of blue metal, etched all over with curious glyphs. He kept a tight grip on the chain, as if he was worried the clock was going to try running away from him. Clockwürk looked only about twenty, but given that he was the son of Father Time himself, Jessie knew better than to think that he could really be that young.

"What brings you here, youngsters?" Clockwürk asked. "The last time we had folks from another dimension visit us, people still talked with the 'thees' and 'thous' and 'wherefores.'"

"Those were the good old days!" Father Time blurted. "Now language changeth at such speed, a man can hardly follow it."

Clockwürk peeked over at Father Time, then glanced back at Jessie and gave her a jokingly long-suffering look. She giggled.

"Is he always like that?" Petra asked.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," Clockwürk said. "He thinks that time should have stopped in the 17th century, and pouted for a decade when the Creator told him to keep the universe's clocks running after 1699. But that's besides the point. Travelers, what are your names?"

"I'm Jessie," Jessie explained, a little tired of having to re-introduce herself every time her friends visited a new world, "and those are my friends. The redhead gal is Petra, that beardy guy is Ivor, and the blond kid is Lukas."

"Did you just call me 'that beardy guy'?" a bemused Ivor asked.

Jessie tried to hold back the mischievous smile that was growing on her lips. "Um...Maybe…"

"Oh, come on, Ivor...you have to admit that's funny!" Lukas said between chuckles. "Ha…'that beardy guy'...that's fantastic. I should start calling you that from now on."

"You will _not_!"

"If you can call me Blonde Guy, then I can call you Beardy Guy. Fair's fair."

"But everyone calls you Blonde Guy. Not just me…"

"Not _everyone_!"

"A lot of people, then."

"You do it more than anyone els—"

"I hate to get in the middle of things," Clockwürk interrupted, "but let's save the silly arguing. What has brought you to this world?"

"We're trying to find our way back home," Jessie said. "We've traveled through portal after portal in hopes one of them will be the right one, but so far...no luck."

"Portals? What are portals?" Clockwürk scratched under his chin.

"You don't know what a portal is?" Jessie was incredulous. "But you're the son of Father Time. How can you have a title like that and not know what a simple portal is?"

Clockwürk's brow creased. "Then tell me what it's like."

Jessie bit her lip. "Hey, Lukas? Would you mind explaining portals to Clockwürk here? I think you might do a better job of it than me."

"Okay," Lukas agreed. "Um...let's see...Do you know that there are more worlds than just this one?"

Clockwürk nodded. "I haven't seen them, but I know they're there."

"Well, portals are the way to move from one world to another. They're like doors for the different dimensions. Each one opens up into the Portal Hallway, and then you could go into a different portal from there. Making sense?"

"I'm following, yes. Do they all look the same, or is each one different for each world?"

"Different. We don't know what the one for our world looks like...that would make going home a lot easier...but the one for this world is made of quartz and gold. And it's pink."

"Lukas!" Jessie exclaimed, catching his attention as soon as he mentioned what the portal for this world looked like. He turned to see her pointing at a small, square structure looming behind Father Time's chair.

"Wherefore thou pointest, directing thy fingers of accusation at me?" Father Time complained.

"Not at you," Jessie responded. "The portal frame is behind your chair!"

The hollow square was made of quartz and gold blocks—a bit dusty, but still glamorous. The portal was deactivated; the pink goo was absent from its middle.

"So all this time, that was a portal?" Clockwürk said to Father Time, pointing at it. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Wherefore thou asketh not?" he retorted.

"Never mind that," Jessie said, getting out her enchanted flint and steel. "Look, I'll just reactivate it and my friends and I will hop through and then we won't have to put up with each other anymore. How's that sound?"

"If that's what you want to do, go ahead," Clockwürk conceded.

Father Time started to doze off again. Jessie walked around his chair to get to the portal, holding the glowing blue artifact in her armored hands. She knelt by the frame and struck the steel to the flint at a hard, square angle, sending brilliant sparks flying. As soon as they landed on the frame, Jessie braced for the portal to activate—perhaps violently, as the Sky City portal had—but instead, a whoosh of hot air barraged her as a tower of blue flame rose inside the frame. When that sputtered out, the portal remained unlit and inactive. Jessie pressed her lips together, disappointed and having flashbacks of the fake portal in the White Pumpkin's Mansion world.

"Well, that didn't work," Lukas stated.

"No kidding…" Petra grumbled to him. "How are we going to get it to work this time?"

Clockwürk shrugged. "I'm not the right one to ask."

Ivor sighed and waved at the chair. "Wake up Father Time again. Maybe he'll know."

"Okay." Petra trotted up to the throne and poked Father Time in the side. It worked. The old man snapped awake, muttering and gibbering as before.

"Who did that?" he demanded.

"The portal didn't work, _Father Time_ ," Petra complained to him. "So what's the deal? How does the darn thing work, then?"

Father Time breathed a big, heavy sigh. "The portal in this world doth not operate as in any other."

Jessie was puzzled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I am in requirement of three Treasures in Time, that I may open the portal. To thus do this, you must taketh lead from Clockwürk and visit the times to which he directeth ye." Father Time explained.

"How will that work?" Ivor questioned.

Clockwürk stepped forward and swung his watch in a circle. "This isn't just a fancy timepiece, sir. This magic clock allows me to time travel. I never let it out of my sight."

"Why can't you just go and find the treasures yourself, if Clockwürk can time travel?" Petra asked Father Time.

"Don't ask Father Time!" Jessie cried. "Ask Clockwürk, he'll be able to explain it in a way we can actually understand. Clockwürk?"

"I can travel through time with my magic clock, but I can't pick up any of the treasures. Only people from other dimensions can do that. Some strange cosmic thing."

"Oh," Jessie said flatly. "Um...I guess we'd better hop to it, then. What do we need first?"

"The Spark of Creation. It's a very unique and very potent gemstone, said to hold part of the power of nature itself. It will definitely help generate enough oomph to start the portal again."

Jessie grinned. "Super! This will be a snap if we have you helping."

"To where will we be going?" Ivor asked as Clockwürk started swinging his clock in a circle. Reality started to blur as time spun backwards, preparing to carry the group away. The clocks and hourglasses melted into a smear of pale pink spinning around Clockwürk and Jessie's gang.

Clockwürk laughed. "Ha! More like to _when_ will we be going!"


	10. In the Beginning

**Unknown land**

 **About 10000 years BJ (Before Jessie)**

Jessie rubbed her eyes and blinked in the sudden bright sunlight. It was startling after the dimness of Father Time's world. She still felt a bit dizzy from the time travel, but that feeling faded away as she looked at her surroundings. Overhead, the sky was as blue as lapis and clear as a diamond, with the golden sun burning in the east. Not a single cloud drifted across its blue expanse. The air was very warm and slightly humid. It smelled fresh and clean-fresher and cleaner than any air she had ever smelled before. A cool wind played past, picking up her hair and making it dance around her shoulders.

She, Lukas, Petra, and Ivor were standing at the foot of some forested hills, overlooking a verdant, hilly plain. Every tree was a perfect shade of jade green, and the grass underfoot was as vibrant as a creeper's fur. Wildflowers of every color dotted the hills and valleys. Beyond there, a mountain range formed a blue ridge in the distance, looking shorter and stouter than the mountains Jessie remembered from home. Everywhere she looked, completely unspoiled nature greeted her sight.

"Oh, that is absolutely beautiful," she mused. "Where are we? Some kind of nature preserve?"

"Why does everything look so _new_?" Petra asked, picking a flower and examining its petals in the palm of her hand. "It's as if these trees and flowers sprouted from their seeds as full-grown plants."

Meanwhile, Clockwürk stood by, arms crossed over his chest and a knowing grin on his face. He casually swung his watch on its chain. His clothes had changed; instead of his sweater and bandanna, he had on a brown robe with long sleeves, a rope around his waist for a belt, and a roughly-cut piece of wolf fur as a sort of mantle on his shoulders. The clothes were simply and inexpertly sewn, with crooked seams and unfinished edges.

"Hey, when did you change your outfit?" Petra turned to him.

"The same time the rest of you changed _your_ outfits." Clockwürk winked.

"Huh?" The others looked down and gasped in surprise. They had been so absorbed in their new surroundings that they hadn't realized that _their_ outfits had changed, too. Like Clockwürk, Jessie and her friends were also wearing the same simple robes in brown, cream, and gray, with ropes around the waist. Jessie had a wool cloak to go with her robe, Petra had a piece of creeper fur for a mantle, Lukas had a gray scarf tied over his lower face, and Ivor had a laced-up leather vest over his clothes.

"What in the world?" Lukas mused as he pulled the scarf off of his face. "Why are we dressed like this? What happened to our armor?"

"I liked my green robe better," Ivor complained.

"This wool cloak is itchy!" Jessie whined.

"I actually kind of like this." Petra fluffed the fur on her mantle. "I look tough. I killed and skinned a creeper without even trying!"

"No, seriously," Lukas said, interrupting her. "What's going on? This is the sort of stuff that ancient people wore."

"We're _in_ ancient times, blond guy," Clockwürk answered. "About 10,000 years in the past. My magic watch changes our outfits so we blend in with the times better. Therefore, you were given dawn-of-creation outfits. This is the height of fashion right now. Eh, it could be worse. You could be wearing fig leaves or sheep skins."

"Oh, no way," Jessie said. "You're not saying…"

"Yep. Welcome to the beginning of the world, friends." Clockwürk smiled and thrust his arms in the air, gesturing to their surroundings.

"Well, that explains why everything looks so new," Petra commented, looking around. "So are we the only people here?"

"No, but not by much, either," Clockwürk said. "Besides us, the world population adds up to a mighty twenty or so people. Don't look at me like that. I said we're at the beginning of the world. It take a while to build up a big population."

"Where even are these people you're talking about?" Petra said. "We're in the middle of nowhere."

"Actually, we're on the edge of it. 'Somewhere' is just down that hill." Clockwürk pointed to the large slope they stood at the edge of. Jessie and the others stepped up to its edge and looked down.

A rough-hewn homestead sat in the bottom of the valley. In the middle of it was a rude cabin built haphazardly from river rocks, dried mud, thatch, and logs. Even though it was a homely structure, it wasn't a small one; it had plenty of room for a large family. A sizeable square of earth had been plowed up adjacent to the cabin for a field, and young green stems poked out of the dark earth like peach fuzz. The entrance to a simple mine had been dug out of a hillside nearby, with a rickety barn a few paces away. On the side of the house opposite the field, there was a crude fenced enclosure with a gaggle of feral-looking farm animals roaming within it. In front of the house, embers smoldered in a fire-pit ringed about by sections of logs serving as seats. Beside it stood a tanning rack with the hide of some luckless animal stretched out on it, and a generously-sized copper kettle. Whoever lived in this homestead was still living there, judging by how recently the fire would have to have been made to still be smoldering right now.

"This is interesting," Jessie remarked. "Who lives here? This is like those homesteads that the Settlers would build on the frontier back in the old days."

"What?" Petra looked at her, confused.

"Settlers," Jessie explained. "You know, those people who built their houses close by each other and the houses became villages and then those became cities? ...Weren't you paying attention in history class?"

"I hated school. Way too boring. As soon as I was old enough to drop it, I was out of there like a firework rocket!"

"You were one of those brawny children, eh, Petra?" Ivor asked, somewhat sarcastically. "Myself, I had to go to college for six years to study alchemy. Ah, college. Good times, good times. Did I ever tell you about the time that one fraternity released a bunch of chickens into my professor's office-"

"Ivor!" Clockwürk, who was becoming increasingly bemused by the claptrap about the travelers' educational experiences, snapped. "Stay focused!"

Jessie and Lukas gave a start, surprised to see affable Clockwürk upset by a little bit of time-wasting. It was just a little bit of derailment in the conversation...no big deal!

"Geez, Clockwürk, don't you have, like, unlimited access to time, anyway?" Petra scoffed. "It's gonna be fine. We have time to kill."

Clockwürk frowned and his hands twitched when Petra said that last statement. His golden-brown eyes took on a spacey gaze before he blinked twice and shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Come on." He started walking. "There's something you need to see."

The others shrugged and followed. Clockwürk descended down the hill, going towards the little cabin. The folds of his robe fluttered in the balmy breeze, and the soles of his sandals slapped against the grass. As they walked down the hill, Jessie noticed just how warm and humid the climate was, and after just a little bit, she took off her cloak and stashed in her Pocket for safekeeping. She was actually glad that she was wearing the lightweight robe, despite how silly it felt to be wearing one, instead of roasting inside her armor.

"So, Clockwürk, who lives here?" Jessie inquired when they reached the foot of the hill. It only took a few minutes to walk down to the cabin. Lukas almost slipped on the dewy grass, but caught himself before he went rolling down the hill. He had blamed the trip on the long skirts of his robe, but Petra said that he was just being klutzy.

"You'll see in just a moment," Clockwürk replied, nodding at the door from their hiding-place behind some young shrubs a few paces away from the homestead. "Someone should be heading out to check on the crops just...about...now."

Sure enough, barely a minute had passed by before the door to the cabin swung open and two of its occupants emerged. They were both men—young men—and they both wore the same kind of long, simple robe with a rope belt that Jessie and her friends had. One was deeply tanned and carried a spear; the other was pale-skinned and looked a little sunburned. That guy carried a stone plough in his right hand and a wooden bucket in his left. Intrigued, Jessie scooted closer to hear them.

"I don't see why I always have to tend to the farm while you're out hunting," the pale-skinned man complained to his companion. "Just because you're the eldest doesn't mean you should get to boss everyone around."

"Ugh," the tanned guy groaned. "I've heard you complain about that about a thousand times now, Ozar. You have your work, and I have mine. So do it."

"I have the hard work," Ozar whined. "I have to tend the crops and milk the cows and breed the pigs and shear the sheep, and what do you do? You get to run around the woods all day long with your bow and arrow. And when you actually do kill something, it's all Nim this and Nim that at the house. Father never gives _me_ that kind of attention!"

"First of all, I hunt with a _spear_ most of the time. Not a bow and arrow. Does this look like a bow and arrow to you?" Nim bonked his brother upside the head with the shaft of his spear. "And second, just stop your complaining and tend the crops like father said. I have important work to do. See you at sundown." Nim ran off, leaving Ozar in a seething bad mood.

" _Tend the crops like father said. I have important work to do_ ," Ozar grumbled, mocking his brother, as he stormed off to the field and started going along the rows of wheat, checking their growth progress. When he encountered a dry patch on the soil, he poured a trickle of water from his bucket to hydrate it.

"Huh. I guess sibling rivalry has been around since the dawn of time, eh?" Lukas joked, smiling to Jessie. "Gee, I hope the rest of the family isn't that quarrelsome."

"They're not," Clockwürk assured him. "Most of them, anyway. Look, here comes the rest of 'em."

More people emerged from the cabin, holding or towing along the wherewithal they'd need for their chores that day. They were all youths, with slightly more brothers than sisters. There was a wide variety of skin tones and hair colors in their ranks, from pasty Ozar working in the field to a dark-skinned, raven-haired young lady feeding sheep, who bore a strong resemblance to Jessie. Jess half-wondered if the girl could possibly be her lots-of-greats-grandmother.

The cutest of the siblings was the youngest brother. The little guy didn't look any older than ten. He had a strange birthmark: a dark brownish patch splashed over the right side of his face. His child-sized robe was muddy and he wore an amber stone on a string around his neck. He ran after his brothers and sisters, begging them to let him help with their work, but most of them shunned him. Disappointed, he crawled over the fence for the animal pen and started feeding handfuls of corn to the lambs and piglets instead.

"Aww," Jessie cooed. "Clockwürk, who's that little guy? The youngest brother?"

"That's Henebrynn," he explained. "Name means 'son of innocence,' and it's pretty fitting. The other siblings know what their callings are—Nim's a hunter, Ozar's a farmer, for instance—but Henebrynn's still a blank slate."

Finally, two adults left the house, hand in hand. Jessie assumed them to be the 'father' and 'mother' that the siblings had been talking about. The man wore a blue robe with a purple cloak tucked into his belt, while the woman's robe was green and her mantle brown. He was tan with dark brown hair and unusual purple eyes; she was pale with fiery orange hair and piercing green eyes. Jessie's stomach did a flip-flop when she realized who these people were.

"Oh. My. Gosh," she whispered to Lukas. "Those are Steve and Alex."

"I know!" Lukas whispered back, awestruck. "I knew about Steve and Alex being the first two people, but seeing them in person... _wow_!"

"Geez, how many kids do those two have?" Petra wondered aloud.

"Uh…" Clockwürk counted on his fingers. "Ten, I think. They need a lot of help around the homestead. It's hard building a civilization from scratch, you know."

"So where's this Spark of Creation that we need to find?" Ivor asked. "That was the whole reason we came here."

"We can't just rush into sight here," Clockwürk responded. "That'll scare everyone present. They'll think the Creator made new people to replace them, since they messed up. We have to lay low for this mission."

"I thought you wanted to find the Spark ASAP," Petra retorted. "You got all waxy earlier when we went off on a tangent in the conversation."

Clockwürk just breathed out heavily in exasperation and produced his magic watch from seemingly nowhere (where had he been keeping it when his clothes changed?), stringing it onto his belt.

Jessie wasn't really listening to the discussion that was starting to turn into an argument. She kept people-watching the family go about their business, taking notice of the trades each son or daughter seemed to epitomize. Nim was obviously a hunter and Ozar a farmer, but there were more skills yet. One girl was building a new barn, expertly laying stones and clay bricks; was she antecedent to Architects like Soren or those Old Builders that Ivor chatted about off and on? A boy toiled at a crafting table, fitting together random materials in hopes of discovering a new recipe. It was all very intriguing. She could hear Lukas's quill scratching paper behind her; he was taking notes.

The last son to exit the house did so slinking and stalking. He was a sneaky character, Jessie could tell. He was lanky, with dirty black hair, yellow eyes, and a permanent scowl. The youth had _trouble_ written all over him, it seemed. At the sight of him and his sour expression, Steve sighed and left Alex's side to talk to him.

"Is something bothering you, Talen?" Steve asked him. The sound of his deep, rich voice made Jessie shiver a little.

"There was an agreement," Talen hissed. "You promised."

"Talen, we already talked about this. I know you want the Spark, but…"

"You promised that it would be mine!" Talen almost yelled. "You said that the gemstone would go to the youngest child, and I was that youngest child. And then Henebrynn came along and you passed it to him instead."

"I have to keep my word," Steve defended. "I know that I promised it with you in mind, but Henebrynn is the youngest now."

Talen looked disgusted. "You had him just to spite me, to take away the Spark of Creation from me. Maybe you should call him Astel'brynn instead. He's the son of spite!"

Steve gasped, aghast. "Son, I will not permit you to say things like that. He is your own brother."

Alex approached. "Please, Talen, be reasonable. We haven't tried to take anything from you. The Spark of Creation is just a stone; it's not that important."

"That's a lie. It's powerful, and the both of you know it. And the both of you also know that it belongs to me."

"Talen, it does not belong to you anymore! You cannot have what rightfully is your brother's!" Steve almost shouted.

Talen looked long and hard at him. "I'm not so convinced I can't." The strange statement hanging ominously in the thick air, Talen turned on his heels and slinked away.

"That is...concerning," Alex said. "He is fixated on that Spark."

"I don't think we need to worry that much," Steve replied. "Most likely, he will steal it from Henebrynn when he's sleeping. If he does, we'll find out, and we'll bring it back to Henebrynn. Easy."

Alex didn't look so convinced, but she didn't say anything else. Steve went back inside the cabin, and Alex walked off towards the orchard trees in the very back of the homestead, probably to check if they had any fruit ripe for picking.

Meanwhile, Jessie was still interested to see what jealous, jealous Talen was up to. He passed by his brothers and sisters, ignoring their greetings and glances. He went from the fields to the paddocks to the fire-pit and then to the barn, looking for something or someone.

"Henebrynn has the Spark of Creation!" Jessie hissed to Clockwürk and her friends. "That's what we've been looking for!"

"I'm more concerned about Talen at the moment," Ivor remarked. "There's something twisted about that young man. Take it from a former villain; sometimes, you can just _see_ the treachery in their eyes."

"Should we follow him?"

"Better than waiting out here to find out what he's up to."

"He's going over to Henebrynn," Lukas said, pointing at the pen where the small animals were being kept. The little brother was still feeding corn to the piglets. Jessie and the others snuck around behind the barn to get closer, wondering how bad the confrontation would be.

Talen walked up to his little brother, his shadow falling over him. Henebrynn stopped throwing corn kernels to the animals and stood up.

"Oh, Talen," he said. "I was just feeding the animals. Want to help?"

Jessie was expecting a demand for the Spark from Talen, but instead he said, "Not quite. Isn't it dull to feed those pigs and lambs all the time?"

"I don't know," Henebrynn mumbled. "Sort of."

"Ever wanted to feed the wild animals in the forest? They're free to roam where they want...way more interesting than these livestock that waddle around the paddock. If you give them food, maybe the wild animals will want to be your friends!"

Henebrynn "oooh"'ed, intrigued by the idea.

"Come on, I think I saw a herd of wild rabbits in the woods earlier. I bet they'll still be there."

"But father says that I'm not allowed to go in the woods," Henebrynn said. "He says I'm too young."

"Father just wants to keep you from having fun," Talen sneered. "He'd rather you stand under the hot sun all day and give corn to our boring farm animals. And it's not fair how he lets Nim go in the woods but not you. Don't you think?"

"I wanna go in the woods and feed the rabbits!" Henebrynn whined. "Let me come with you!"

"Of course! Come, we have to go now before father sees you leaving." Talen started leading Henebrynn along from behind, guiding him onto a dirt path that led toward the forest. He stole a few quick glances over his shoulder at Steve, who was too busy helping Ozar with the fields to notice that Talen and Henebrynn were sneaking away.

"Well, that's odd," Jessie said to Clockwürk. "Should we follow them to see where they go?"

"Something's not right here," Petra said. "This seems kind of shifty. We should probably check out what's going on."

They crept behind the barn and cabin to get to the path just as Talen and Henebrynn disappeared into the woodland glade. Jessie led the pack, with Clockwürk close behind, with Lukas and Petra tailing and Ivor bringing up the back. They walked as a clustered pack.

They walked for several minutes, until they watched Talen lead Henebrynn into a clearing area where the tree cover wasn't so thick. A warren of brown rabbits bounced around on the grass, nibbling on dandelions. Henebrynn was delighted by the sight. Talen stood off at a short distance while Henebrynn held out handfuls of corn to the rabbits, trying to get their attention.

After a few minutes, Henebrynn got a little frustrated. "Talen...the rabbits won't take any corn from me! I can't get their attention."

"Really?" Talen walked up to him. " _This_ should get their attention."

Talen grabbed Henebrynn by the shoulders and threw him to the ground. He landed on his back with a hard thud, frightening the rabbits and making them scatter. Talen glared at his little brother, a dangerous look in his eyes.

"Talen, what's going on?"

Talen didn't say anything. He approached with smooth strides, his hands curled into fists.

"Talen, that hurt!" Henebrynn crawled backwards, trying to get away.

Still no response. And Talen kept coming.

Henebrynn scooted back even farther, but his back bumped into a large cropping of rocks. He was cornered, and Talen was still striding towards him.

"Hey, what gives?" the boy whimpered.

Talen pulled a sword out of its scabbard at his hip. It was a jagged stone blade, sharpened crisply at its edges. At its appearance, Henebrynn gasped as he realized what was going on, as did Jessie from her hiding place. She started to clamber over the brush, but it was such a thick tangle that she struggled to escape and run in to save Henebrynn.

The little brother was shrieking in fear. "No, Talen, no, no, please, no, don't hurt me! Talen? Talen! TAL—"

Talen thrust the blade downwards.

Henebrynn let loose with a ragged scream that cut off abruptly.

Talen pulled the sword-blade out of his brother's chest, producing a squelching sound and a small spurt of blood. He drew back and clenched the weapon's hilt in one hand, staring hollowly at Henebrynn as pool of blood seeped onto the grass underneath him, forming a red wreath around his corpse.

Jessie stumbled, fell on her knees, and dry heaved. She couldn't believe that Talen had did it. Little Hen was dead. His own brother had killed him. But now she knew that she had to stay quiet. If Talen could kill his own brother, who was to say that he'd have qualms about doing the same to a bunch of strangers? Lukas helped her to her feet and patted her on the back to comfort her. Ivor took hold of Jessie's arm and gently pulled her back to the safety offered by the tree cover. Jessie opened her mouth, but she couldn't say anything. All she could do was stand and watch to see what Talen would do now.

Talen's eye twitched slightly, and then again. He lifted his shaking hands closer to his face and turned them over, staring with some kind of horror at them. His shoulder muscles spasmed, making him twitch some more, and he glanced around rapidly at the unwelcome sights before his eyes: his sword that had done the deed, the end of the blade sullied with blood; his own hands, which trembled uncontrollably; the limp body of Henebrynn lying on the grass, young and defenseless, a look of shock and fear frozen on his dead face. Talen gasped and frantically rubbed his hands on the skirts of his robe, as if to wipe off imaginary blood. His sickly yellow eyes were blinking frenetically and darting about, twitching with raw nerve. Obviously, there was a storm raging inside his mind in the face of this horrible crime—the world's first murder!—and it externally revealed itself when Talen suddenly roared a primal yell, yanking at his hair and tearing at his robe. He kicked the sword into the reeds, either to hide the evidence or just to put the visual reminder of his crime out of his sight. Heaving more panicked gasps, he gnawed at his knuckles trying to think of a way to hide his brother's corpse. He dropped to his knees and started ripping up the grass until he came to dirt, which he proceeded to dig out with his bare hands.

Despite being sheltered by the tree cover, Jessie winced and drew back. Talen frightened her-this mad, murderous man who behaved like an animal in his hysteria. She reached into her Pocket (mercifully, the time traveling had only altered her clothes and not the contents of her Pocket) and felt for the hilt of her diamond sword. She kept a firm grip on the weapon as he continued to tear through the earth as part of his scheme to hide his horrible deed.

When Talen had an adequately deep hole, he roughly grabbed Henebrynn by the wrists, lifting him slightly from the ground, and dragged him over to the hole. He sucked in and exhaled a deep breath before thrusting his little brother's corpse into the hole and kicking a cursory pile of dirt over its top. He pivoted away from the disgraceful grave and rubbed his hands on the skirts of his robe again, still trying to clean away imaginary blood. Burying the evidence hadn't soothed his guilt.

Talen muttered something under his breath and went back the way he came through the woods. The jutting branches grabbed at the sleeves and hem of his robe, as if they were trying to hold him back and keep him from returning to the cabin. He brushed them away and kept walking. Jessie and the others stayed still and silent until the sound of his footsteps faded away.

"I...I can't believe it," Petra stammered when Talen was finally out of earshot. "I can't believe I just witnessed that."

"Why would he do that?" Lukas's voice had a weepy edge to it. "Henebrynn was so cute and innocent!"

"The world's first murder," Jessie said, shaking her head softly. She reached over and wrapped her arm around Lukas's shoulders to comfort him. She could feel tears of her own prickling the corners of her eyes. "We have to tell someone. Talen can't get away with this."

"But Clockwürk said not to interrupt them," Ivor protested. "They'll be scared of us."

"And what Clockwürk didn't say is that Henebrynn gets murdered," Jessie replied sourly. "T'would have been helpful to know that. I guess that creep was so overwhelmed that he forgot to take what he came for. Let's go."

They left their hiding-place to follow the path back to the homestead. Hopefully Talen would be far enough along the path that they wouldn't encounter him. That would be a dangerous confrontation. The world didn't seem as bright and lively as it had when they first arrived; now, it seemed darker and grittier. It was as if Henebrynn's murder had broken the illusion of ease here, so that the world could show its true colors as dangerous and marked with hardship. What a world, if danger came not only from stalking creepers and the strife of survival, but also from the treachery of one's own family!

The friends were a few minutes on the path when Jessie realized a glaring absence among them. "Um...Where's Clockwürk?"

"I thought he was with you," Petra said, sounding remarkably like Olivia. 'I thought he was with you,' was practically Olivia's catchphrase, it seemed.

"Great," Jessie grumbled. "Just when you think you can trust someone…Wait here, I'll find him." Before anyone could discourage her or insist on tagging along, she ran back to the hiding-place. She figured that Clockwürk would be there for whatever reason, and that turned out to be true. She spotted him next to the impromptu grave, the dirt covering of which had been brushed aside. Clockwürk stood over it, back turned to Jessie, with his magic clock in one hand and the Spark of Creation in the other.

"Mock me, will you?" he said quietly (was he talking to the clock?) "Tell me how long I have left? I wouldn't be so swift to taunt. Look, I have a key piece here."

"Clockwürk!" Jessie shouted. "How dare you!"

"Ga'ah!" Clockwürk yelped, jumping up and spinning around to face her.

"What the Nether are you doing? Are you grave robbing?" Jessie was incredulous—how could gallant Clockwürk stoop to that?

"The souls of the deceased are free, in no need of earthly treasures," Clockwürk responded. "Don't you want to get home? You can't do it without this." He tossed the stone-on-a-string to Jessie, who reluctantly caught it. The amber rock was warm to the touch. She put it in her Pocket for safekeeping.

"Are you condoning grave robbing?" She was still perturbed.

"No, Jessie. What I am saying is that the Spark of Creation should not remain in the ground for the sons of Steve and daughters of Alex to dig up. It's not safe to leave it where unscrupulous people may find it. We are taking it home."

Jessie just shrugged.

"I think Henebrynn deserves a better place for his body to rest," Clockwürk said, then focused on his magic clock. "Okay, timepiece, dazzle me. I know you have a bit of magic in you." He swung it in a circle directed at the sorry hole in the ground. The depression in the earth deepened and mud seeped into it, covering the cadaver much more substantially. The magic pulled a rock from under a nearby tree and planted it over the grave, etching it with "Henebrynn, the dear son of innocence." Clockwürk added a bed of sunny yellow flowers over the dirt for good measure.

"There," he said. "Now, let's find your friends. We've a new leg of the journey to begin."

"All right," Jessie said, casting one last glance at the grave before following Clockwürk on the trek back out of the woods. They didn't say anything as they went along, until they reached the edge of the forest where the others were waiting.

"Where have you been?" Petra grilled Clockwürk as soon as he stepped into their midst.

"There was business that had to be attended to first," he replied, and the look in his soulful amber eyes quieted her after that. "Henebrynn had to be properly laid to rest. Now that we have the Spark of Creation, it is time to move on to our next stop in the journey."

"But then Talen is going to get away with it!" Lukas protested.

"He won't," their guide explained. "His family eventually finds out and exiles him for his crimes."

"Harsh," Petra commented. "Then what happens?"

"The records are hazy; I don't know everything, you guys. They say his kin were always opposed to their fellow people. That he became the 'father of all griefers.'"

Jessie gulped, thinking about Axel. Axel could be called a griefer. Was he related to, either by blood or in spirit, to Talen the murderer? What an unpleasant thought.

"Where are we going next?" Lukas asked, helping to break the somber mood.

" _When_ are we going?" Petra corrected.

"Can't tell ya," Clockwürk said with a wink. "It's more fun when it's a surprise."

"I don't like surprises," Ivor grumped.

Clockwürk just rolled his eyes good-naturedly and started spinning the watch in a circle. Jessie watched it go round and round until she got dizzy. When she looked away, reality was blurring; the world was turning into blobs of green and blue. The green and blue turned pink as the gang slipped through time to their next stop.

Where, or _when_ , would they be going now? It remained to be seen.

 **A/N: I'm anticipating potential flak received for my use of a Genesis typology in this chapter. Well, not to be rude, but what did you expect from Taigona the devout Christian? Besides, this is heavily fancified and not biblically accurate. Just an aspect of the plot. I will either respectfully diffuse any flames aimed at me or ignore them outright. If you're polite to me when addressing this, I will have no problem responding and we'll hopefully be able to have an insightful discussion about it. Thank you for your understanding. :)**

 **Not gonna lie, my heart was pounding as I wrote the buildup to the murder scene...**


	11. Swords and Sandals

**Kiva Empire**

 **About 1900 years BJ**

The sensation of the first time-travel had been dizzying, and the second round was no improvement. Jessie groaned and rubbed her eyes like she had just woken up from an inadequate nap. She could feel the warm, humid air around her, and when she looked around, a clear sky and green hillocks greeted her sight. For a second, she was confused and wondered if they had actually gone forward in time at all. This was just like the last time spot they had been to.

"Wher—I mean, _when_ are we?" she wondered aloud, glancing around for Clockwürk.

"Take a look around and guess," was his reply. He and the others stood by, also taking in their new surroundings.

So Jessie obeyed, scoping out the area. Now the details were becoming apparent. The land wasn't entirely hilly; they were actually standing on a small mountain overlooking a lowland valley, which stretched out to a coastal slope. Said slope then crumbled into little islands cast into the shimmering ocean beyond. The escarpments were dotted with stout olive orchards, dogwood thickets, and beds of clover. Roads, the nice ones being paved in stone chips and the lesser ones being scattered gravel, ran up inclines and out to the shore, as well as leading down to a large city of clay-brick houses at the base of the foothills. Limestone monuments and pyramids, tucked among the houses, rose into the placid sky. The rest of the city remained unseen, hidden in the fog bank veiling a mountain range beyond.

"Wait a minute," Lukas said. "I know what this place is; I remember it from the books. They called it 'the greatest ancient nation on earth.' We landed in the Kiva Empire! Right in its heyday, right?"

"Someone knows his history," Clockwürk said approvingly. "That's good. It's true; we're about 1900 years in the past at the moment. Right at the height of its power, but it's also a bit dangerous if you don't know how to act like a citizen of a great ancient empire."

"Oh, dear," Ivor moaned.

"Relax," Clockwürk soothed. "I know what to do. I watched the Kebo Empire rise and fall. I'm older than I look...8,000 years to be exact."

Lukas could have sworn he heard a whispered "darn it, he's too old," from Jessie.

"...Anyway, I know what how we need to act to blend in. When in Kiva, do as the Kivans do. And at the very least, we look the part." He motioned to indicate his changed outfit for the new time period. His brown robe had become a clean white toga. It clasped at one shoulder, leaving the other and part of his chest bare. He also had a pair of golden wristbands on his arms and a matching scarab-shaped collar hanging on his neck. Lukas and Ivor had similar togas, albeit with less glitz and glamor than their time-travel guide ("How come I don't get gold wristbands, too? Gold is an alchemist's best friend!") Jessie and Petra, meanwhile, had identical blue toga-dresses with little silver clips on either shoulder. Silver necklaces and bracelets complemented the look.

"I hate these outfits," Petra grumbled, obviously upset about having to wear a robe again. "Your magic clock has no taste in fashion."

"Maybe you should write a letter and complain," Clockwürk retorted. "Now, to business. We're here to find the Tear of Ancients. Like the Spark of Creation, it's a powerful gemstone The only problem is that I've forgotten where it was kept at this time. I think it was a treasure that the emperors of Kiva kept."

"So what makes you think it'll be here?" Ivor questioned.

"This is Qalbopolis, the capital of the empire," Clockwürk explained. "The Tear of Ancients was a treasure kept by the emperors, and the emperors lived here. They're not going to hang out in the occupied nations."

"I guess that makes sense. How will we find it?"

"We explore. Also...I've always wanted to walk through the Kiva Empire in and with the people. Watching it from the celestial realm just didn't cut it. So...let's go! Time's a-wastin'! I don't want to have to hunt for an inn. You can never find a room in an ancient inn when you really, really need one. Like that one time when…"

"Save it, Clockwürk, we hear that one every Christmas!" Petra cut him off.

"Oi! Get away from the olives, scavengers!" someone behind them shouted. Jessie and her friends spun around to see a handful of orchard tenants approaching, baskets of harvested olives abandoned and rocks in their hands. They clenched the stones in their hands, way too eager to fling them in anger.

"We're just travelers passing by," Ivor said quickly. "We weren't looking to snitch from your supply."

The tenants eyed him suspiciously, then shrugged and let their rocks drop to the ground before returning to their work. Not wanting to annoy the farmhands any more than they already had, Jessie started walking and motioned for her friends to follow. They did, of course, keeping on the wide, paved road. Jessie assumed that it was the main road that would take them into the city.

"Gee, I hope the rest of the people here aren't like those tenants," Lukas said as they passed under a sandstone arch curving over the road as it led into the city. "Otherwise this is not going to be a great experience."

"None of this adventure has been a great experience," Petra grumbled.

"Not even meeting me?" Clockwürk clapped a hand over his chest in mock indignation. "I take umbrage at that remark."

Petra turned red. "Well, except for that. You're cool, you're cool."

"Remember what I said," their guide advised as they entered the bustling city, dodging pedestrians and donkeys on the dusty roads. "Do as the Kiva do."

"What does that even mean...oh, _wow_." Jessie trailed off when confronted by the mosaic of sights before her. There were a thousand things to see all at once, the result of many cultures blending together under an empire. Pyramids, ziggurats, limestone temples, standing-stone circles, and obelisks made up the skyline. People of every skin tone and hair color were present, wearing at least thirty different styles of togas, robes, kimonos, and tunics. There were merchants hawking their wares, shepherds with their livestock in tow, slaves shuffling along gloomily in their ankle shackles, scholars scribbling on scrolls, children playing tag among the crowd, and priests standing outside the magnificent temples. It was overwhelming to the point where Jessie just wanted to sit down for a second and process it all.

"Well, this is...interesting," Petra said, looking at everything. As she stood there, clad in her blue robe and silver finery with her fiery hair shining in the sun, several men passing by smiled and waved flirtatiously at her. She rolled her eyes and turned aside from them.

"We're not here to sightsee, though," Clockwürk reminded them. "We need to find the Tear of Ancients. I'm worried that we've wasted too much time already."

"How could we possibly have wasted any time?" Jessie asked. "We just got here...I don't think we've been here for fifteen minutes yet." She was sitting on a low stone wall that sectioned off a house's courtyard. A sheep in the yard waddled over to her and nuzzled her hand. She grinned absentmindedly and stroked it under its chin.

"I mean, we spent almost an entire day in you-know-when looking for the Spark." Clockwürk answered, trying his best to allude to their time-traveling jaunts without sounding like a lunatic to passersby. It didn't work. A few stopped and stared at him quizzically before muttering something about "mad men on the streets," before continuing to go about their business.

"Real subtle, Clockwürk," Jessie sighed.

"You're going to kill our cover if you're not careful," Ivor warned their guide. "Whatever happened to 'when in Kiva…'"

Clockwürk suddenly looked very uncomfortable and twitched, like he had at their first time-travel stop. "What did you say?"

"I said, you're going to kill our cover," Ivor repeated. "We have to be more careful to pretend we know what we're doing."

Clockwürk frowned, then blinked hard a few times and responded, "Oh. Yes. That's correct. It's just that...um...this place is a little overwhelming. It was much less intimidating when I was simply observing."

"I'd bet it would be," Lukas agreed, shrugging.

"Right," Clockwürk, still looking dazed, motioned for the others to follow him. "Come on. The emperor's palace is in the heart of the city. That's probably our best bet for finding the Tear."

Jessie obediently followed his lead, but she had that churning feeling in her stomach of something not being right. She ignored it for now. Maybe she was just psyched out from the sensory overload of Qualbopolis.

Lukas was trotting alongside her as the group made their trek through the gritty streets. "Hey."

"Hey what?" she asked.

"Nothing, really. Just saying hi. I was wondering...how you holding up with this time travel stuff, Jess?"

"I'm dizzy whenever we land for the first time," she replied.

"It's a bit of a culture shock at each stop," the blond boy said, motioning to the limestone temples and clay-brick ziggurats lining the roads. "First when we went all the way back to the beginning of the world and there was nothing but nature, and now jumping ahead 7000 years from that we're in the middle of a mashup of a hundred different cultures. This place is really something."

"I get the feeling that Clockwürk has no idea what he's doing this time."

Lukas chuckled. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, look at him." Jessie pointed to the head of the group, where Clockwürk was meandering along and looking this way and that at the buildings and people.

"He's acting kind of funny lately," Lukas commented. "Like how he flew off the handle when Ivor said that he was 'killing' our cover."

"He was like that at the beginning of the world, too. When Petra said that we had time to 'kill,' he acted up then, too."

"Weird. Why do you think that's so?"

"Maybe he's just sensitive to the word 'kill'?"

"Could be."

"We're getting closer to the palace!" Clockwürk announced triumphantly, pointing ahead. Sure enough, past a line of olive trees and an open plaza of stone, the huge form of an ornate palace loomed above the bustle of the vassals' world. It was a marvel of limestone, ivory, white marble, and quartz...a shining pearl among a sea of mundane sandy buildings. Short towers marked its four corners. The sloping, clay-tiled roofs were supported by rows of Doric pillars. There were murals of frescoes, mosaics, and hieroglyphs for decoration, some taking up entire sections of wall. The structure definitely lived up to its cred as the home of the emperor of a powerful domain.

The gang was so busy gawking at it that they failed to notice the perturbed palace soldiers approaching. The guards assembled themselves into a circle around Jessie and her friends, cutting off any chance to slip away. As soon as she found herself surrounded, Jessie knew that there was trouble in store.

The guards had broad shoulders, muscles bulging under the metal plates of their armor, and stony expressions. Each man's armor consisted of a metal torso shell, with leather straps crisscrossing their arms and hanging off the bottom edge of the chest piece, making a sort of leather kilt. The biggest of them, who seemed to be the leader of this group, had scars on his face and a whip tucked into his belt. Judging by the suspicious dark stains on its fronds, the item wasn't just for decoration. The bruisers stood in a disorganized circle around Jessie and her friends, cracking the knuckles of their huge fists.

"Hello…" Jessie said in a tiny voice. "Is something wrong, sirs?" Obviously, these were not fellows to be trifled with.

"Taxes," the one in the lead grunted.

"Taxes?" Jessie repeated. "What do you mean, 'taxes'?"

"Idiot girl!" he sneered. "Don't you know that you owe taxes to the Emperor?"

 _I do? Well, it probably wouldn't be good to argue it with them._ "Uhh...Okay, I guess. How much are taxes here?"

"Ten iron pieces," he replied.

"Ten iron pieces _for each person_ ," one of the other soldiers added.

"Oh, dear," Jessie whispered, then started rummaging through her Pocket. Did she have any iron pieces left over? No such luck. And she wasn't going to trade in the Eversource crown, the enchanted flint and steel, or her diamond sword to pay a simple tax. Absolutely not.

"Why the wait?" the lead soldier grumbled. "Do you not have any iron, or what?"

While the guards were distracted by talking to Jessie, Lukas turned his attention to Petra, knowing that she had a solution to the problem in her Pocket.

"Hey, Petra, do you still have those iron pieces from before?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she responded.

"Would you mind floating us a few so we can all pay their goofy tax?"

She snorted. "Nope."

"What do you mean, 'no?' These guys don't exactly look like they'll negotiate."

"I don't have to give these jokers anything."

"What's that?" the leader challenged.

Petra wouldn't budge. "I said I don't have to give you guys anything. What, do you really expect people who just got here to have iron pieces to spare?"

"Emperor Zero requires it," the soldier responded curtly. "All residents of the city must pay their dues. Not paying is dissent. And dissent will be _punished_." He patted the whip on his belt, for emphasis.

Petra crossed her arms and grunted at him.

"Pet-ra," Clockwürk hissed to her. "I think it'd be a good idea to comply."

She shrugged. "What's the worst they could do to us?"

* * *

The jail cells were small and perfectly squared, with hay on the floor for the prisoners to sleep on and one barred window in the back. The whole place reeked of dampness and rot.

In a massive understatement, Lukas said: "You know, I think this might be a problem." He was crowded into a cell with Ivor, Clockwürk, and a couple of scruffy strangers.

Across the aisle, in a cell with Petra, Jessie just held on to the bars at the front and glared at him.

"Gee, I never could have guessed that." Annoyed, Petra kicked a pebble on the floor. It ricocheted off the wall and almost hit Jessie in the side of the head.

"Now, you don't get to complain, Petra," Ivor said. "You and Jessie have that cell all to yourselves. We have to share one with a bunch of thieves and scalawags."

Lukas had another question. "So, Jessie...um, how exactly did we end up like this? Everything was happening so fast."

"Well, those soldiers came up to us and demanded that we give them some iron pieces for taxes. You remember that much, right?"

"Yeah," Lukas replied. "Yeah, yeah. It's making more sense now. Decreed by Emperor Zero, I think they said...whoever that is."

Jessie jumped in. "It wouldn't have been a problem elsewise, I bet. But none of us have any iron in our Pockets. None of us except _someone_ who refused to give up any so they would leave us alone!" She glared pointedly at Petra.

"I was not going to hand over my hard-earned iron to a bunch of stooges in leather skirts!" Petra snapped.

"Yeah, but did you really have to try punching one of the in the nose?" Jessie said.

"I didn't _try_ punching him. I _did_ punch him. He squealed like a little girl. It was glorious."

"...And then we got arrested," Ivor concluded. "Now we need a plan to get out of here."

"Ideas, anyone?" Jessie offered. "Does anyone have a pickaxe? Then we could break through the walls or something…"

"No pickaxe," the others replied.

"Clockwürk, can't you use your magic clock to teleport us out of here?" she asked, desperate.

He shook his head sadly. "Afraid not, lassie. We're on a quest. Once we have landed, we cannot leave until we have obtained the Tear of Ancients."

"Rats. Well, there has to be some way out of here." Jessie paced the floor in her cell, kicking hay out of the way.

"There is," croaked one of the 'scalawags' in the other cell. "The arena, heh heh."

"The _what_?"

"You hear that?" the ruffian chortled to another prisoner. "Poor lass hasn't a clue about the arena!"

Jessie was both confused and suspicious. "Is this going where I think it's going?"

He chuckled hoarsely. "Probably. You'll find out soon enough."

It wasn't long before the thick wooden doors of the prison swung open and four of the beefy soldiers appeared, forcing their muscular frames into the cramped aisle between the rows of cells.

"Who's getting executed today?" the same ruffian asked them sarcastically, leaning against the rusty iron bars.

"It's gonna be you if you don't shut up!" one of the soldiers snapped at him, then mumbled something under his breath about "annoying mouthy prisoners."

Meanwhile, the other three moved over to the cells where Jessie and her friends were being kept, one to the girls' cell and the other two to the boys'. They rattled off a list of who they were summoning:

"We summon from this cell...the old man with the black beard, the pasty blond kid, and the one with the amber eyes and gold wristbands. From that one...the fiery-haired lass and the raven-haired one. Out, out of your cells. Waste no time."

Jessie and company were herded out of the cells into the aisle, in the midst of the guards who crowded around them to hem them in.

"Are we getting executed? I don't want to die!" Lukas wailed, dabbing his eyes with the corner of his toga. Jessie patted him on the back, a grim expression on her face.

"Stop crying, you wuss!" a guard growled. "You're not getting executed. No-one is getting strung up or nailed down or anything of the sort. So stow it."

"Oh. So does that mean you're letting us go?" A sparkle of hope glinted in Jessie's eyes.

"Not even close. You wanna be free, you have to earn it. Now let's get a move on! The sooner we start, the sooner we can be done."

The group was marched down the hallway, toward a gaping stone arch leading out of the dark tunnel and into a very bright area beyond. Jessie may as well have been walking into a wall of light, because she had no idea what lay beyond the arch. Glancing back, she could see that her friends were equally unsure of themselves. The guards had to prod them in the back to keep them moving.

Jessie cringed and covered her eyes with her hands when they stepped out into the light. It was nearly blinding after standing in the dark for who knows how many hours. When she could see again, the first thing she saw was that she stood in a large pit of sand. There were three other arched entrances, set around the perimeter of the pit. Surrounding the pit all around were rows and rows of seats, made of staggered layers of stone bricks. They rose above the arena floor, about ten tiers in all. And the seats were not without occupants; although not entirely packed to the brim with patrons, people filled the stadium all around. They cheered and whooped in excitement, some of them waving banners in the air.

On the other side of the arena, a raised platform for the special Box seats rose above the commoners' seats. It was occupied by several high-class men wearing gold sashes and red capes over their togas. The most important of the seats was a high-backed silver throne, upon which a man wearing the same regalia, along with a crown-like gold band around his head and an emerald staff in one hand, was seated, pompously watching it all. The mighty Emperor Zero, undoubtedly. An identical silver throne next to him was the seat of an equally regal-looking woman whom Jessie assumed to be the Emperor's wife.

"Crap," Jessie mumbled to her companions. "I don't have a good feeling about this at all."

The guards standing behind them just chuckled.

Emperor Zero stood up, about to give a speech. Some servants standing at the corners of the Box made sure to get everyone's attention. One blasted on a shofar, and the other slammed a hammer into a gong. The din echoed in the great open space, and hundreds of heads turned to look at the Emperor.

"Ladies and gentlemen, young and old, patricians and plebeians, it is my great pleasure to announce another climactic day of competition at the arena. We have a fresh crop of criminal souls to see in action in the pit. But I am in high spirits, for the efforts of the Kivan Empire have recently captured many of those heathen Way-followers, who threaten my ability to govern our empire. Because I am in high spirits, and because the gods in their good pleasure granted a fair day of clear sky and warm sun, I have decided to be merciful to these criminals from the bowels of the Kivan prisons. I will offer them an opportunity for freedom. One will walk away from this arena a free man or woman, holding the Tear of Ancients."

Jessie gasped and tugged on Clockwürk's toga, almost pulling it off his shoulder. "Did you hear that? He'll give the Tear of Ancients to whoever wins this competition!"

"I don't think it's going to be easy. The Kivan emperors were not known for their kindness."

"Hmm. But who are those Way-followers that he was talking about?"

"People who still believe in the Creator and don't worship anything from the Kivan pantheon," Clockwürk explained. "The emperors hated them. Especially Zero. He was their most ruthless persecutor."

"Oh, goody. And we've been thrust right into the middle of his gladiator games," Ivor said bitterly. "This isn't going to end well."

"Who'd like to go first?" one of the guards asked the group, smiling nastily.

No-one made a move, of course. All of them were hoping that somebody else would step up.

"That's how they always respond. All right, guess I'll just have to choose one." He grabbed the arm of the nearest person, who happened to be Jessie. "I think you'll do."

Jessie whimpered, both from fear and from the discomfort of the soldier's meaty hand crushing her upper arm. He dragged her more toward the middle of the pit and handed her a wooden sword and a tiny wooden shield. Her diamond sword had been confiscated when her friends were arrested

The barred gate on the arched entrance cranked open so her challenger could enter the stadium. A hulking form lumbered out, a very large and very unfriendly-looking animal. Its body was the size of two minecarts, and it walked on four legs as thick as tree trunks. Covered head to toe in grizzly white hair, It had a tiny nub of a tail, husky shoulders, a beefy neck, and a wedge-shaped head. The animal's round ears were shoved forward in a display of dominance, and its black lips peeled back to reveal sharp, yellow teeth.

"Polar bear," Jessie whispered.

Jessie had never seen a polar bear in the flesh before. She lived in a temperate region, far from the tundras and taigas that polar bears made their home in. Prior to this, she had only known what they looked like because of pictures in books. But now, here she stood in the wrong place and the wrong time, being stared down by a particularly cantankerous specimen. Normally polar bears were neutral, she had read, but they had obviously done something to bother this one. She had no idea what to do. Zombies were child's play. Skeletons, a breeze. Creepers, hardly a threat. But a polar bear? She had never battled a polar bear before!

The bear approached, snuffling heartily as it caught her scent. Jessie wilted. The crowd booed, wanting to see some action.

Then the bear craned its neck back and roared. It sent a wave of hot air blasting into Jessie's face, speckling her cheeks with spit, blowing her hair back, and assaulting her senses with its rotten fish-breath. Jessie fell on her back and scrambles backwards as the bear advanced, paws thudding against the sand. It made a swipe for Jessie. She dodged away. Her puny wooden sword wouldn't do squat against this beast. Not that had much of an opportunity to try using it, though, because the bear swiped again and knocked the blade clean out of her hand. It flew out of reach.

The enraptured crowd cheered. Was it for Jessie or for the bear? Hard to tell.

She raised the shield to block another incoming attack. The bear lunged, ready to bite. Its jaws closed around the edge of the shield. Jessie winced when the force of the impact ran up her arm, and she heard a cracking sound. She couldn't tell if it was the shield or the bear's teeth breaking until she opened her eyes and saw a sizeable chunk of wood missing from the shield. The bear had bitten it clean off. Right now, it was crunching on the wood in its mouth, spitting it out in clumps, and glaring at Jessie. Once it had spit out the wood splinters, it went right back to fighting. It stomped about and roared. Jessie hopped to her feet and threw the shield aside, seeing as it was now useless. She had nothing to try except dodging the bear's attacks.

A misjudged veer away from one of the bear's headbutts sent Jessie sprawling spreadeagled on the ground. The polar bear snarled and raised its paw, terrible claws at the ready, preparing to smash it down on its victim. As it lifted its foot, Jessie noticed an object piercing the underside of the paw. It was a stone point and a broken splint of wood—an arrow shaft. Of course! Every time the bear set that foot on the ground, the pain from the lodged arrow was refreshed. The pain was what was making the bear so aggressive! It gave Jessie a brave, desperate, and rather foolhardy idea. But it was all she had.

It was time to act. So Jessie did one of the most risky things she'd ever done.

She reached up and grabbed the bear's paw by the wrist as it came down and held it still with all the force she could muster. Her muscles strained against the pressure. Jessie's strength versus the bear's. The polar bear snorted, confused.

Panting from fear, Jessie reached under the giant paw, closed her fist around the arrow shaft, and ripped it out.

Immediately the polar bear threw its head back and roared from the pain. It made a swipe at Jessie with the offending paw, then discomfort forced it to recoil and draw back. It moaned as it started licking the blood from the paw, even sucking on it a little. As it did, it seemed to realize that its foot actually felt better now that the arrow was gone.

"See? You're okay now," Jessie soothed. "Better?"

The polar bear paused licking its paw and looked at Jessie with its shiny black eyes. A soft murmur escaped its lips. Then it drew forward and nuzzled Jessie on the neck, running its warm wet tongue across her cheek. Jessie grimaced at the bear-kiss, but sighed with sheer relief that the animal wasn't angry anymore.

Meanwhile, there was a dead silence in the crowd. Emperor Zero leaned forward in his chair, stupefied by what he saw. Jessie, hugging the bear around its shoulders, glanced around at them.

"How can this be?" Zero thundered over the crowd. "Is this girl the spawn of Androcles?"

As far as she could tell, Jessie was not, but the aghast emperor's sputtering gave her an idea. She'd put on a little act.

"You fooooooolish emperor!" Jessie cried out in a weird voice (her "fancy voice.") "How dare you call me the spawn of lowly Androcles? I am descended from the gods!"

" _What?_ " Zero gasped.

"Surely you do not doubt me? Does any mortal woman have the power to tame the mighty polar bear? This was a test, Zero! The gods have deigned to walk the streets of your empire, and you have treated us shamefully! Most shamefully!

"Indeed, we are divine! The golden-haired boy you see is Lucania the god of light. The amber-eyed one is the Work-Of-Clocks, god of time. The man with the hair like a raven's feathers is Ivorus, sagacious god of magic and arcane arts. The woman with the fiery hair is Petrathena, goddess of war and the hunt. And I am Jessiana, master of all animals, able to tame with my touch! And yet you have treated us as despicable criminals?"

"Oh! Forgive me for my ignorance! Have mercy, O mighty Jessiana!" Zero fell facedown on the floor of the Box seating. "Please, I will do anything for your absolution! I'll...I'll declare your festival days. I'll sacrifice my livestock and gold..I'll sacrifice my _servants and slaves_ to you! Please do not punish me!"

"Then you shall fulfill the requests I make to you," Jessie said in her most threatening tone. The others, picking up on the act, strode up and joined her, crossing their arms and giving their best steely stares to the emperor.

"Yes, yes, of course."

"I have no need or desire of your livestock or your gold or your slaves. You shall grant my party and I full release from your prisons, or I shall break out anyway and smite you with my divine power. You cannot hold a god in your thrall. And you shall give the Tear of Ancients to us. You dare not refuse."

Clockwürk leaned close to Jessie and whispered an extra request to her.

"And we have one more demand," Jessie continued. "You shall cease to persecute the Way-followers. Am I understood, lowly mortal?"

Zero gulped. "Yes. Yes, most mighty Jessiana, Luciana, Work-Of-Clocks, Ivorus, and Petrathena. I will obey your commands." He bowed again.

Jessie and the others kept up the act, floating on a celebrity air, as they were escorted from the arena with the respect due a royal. The soldiers took them to the foot of the palace, assuming that it would be the stairway for the "divine" visitors to return to the celestial realm. When they were gone, Jessie and the gang immediately dropped the act.

"Holy heck, that was awesome," Lukas said to Jessie. "You should be an actress."

"That was quite impressive. You are marvelously creative, Jessie." Clockwürk smiled. He was holding the Tear of Ancients. The faceted blue stone twinkled in the waning sunlight. Clockwürk gripped the gem tightly, hugging it close to his chest as if he feared it being taken from him.

"Not too shabby," Petra said, "but 'Petrathena'? That's kind of silly."

Jessie shrugged. "It was the best thing I could come up with on the fly. Thanks for going along with the spiel, guys. I owe you one."

"You were the one who saved our hides by pulling one over the emperor," Lukas said. "We're the ones who should be thanking you."

"Now that we have the Tear," said Ivor, "does this mean we're ready to go to the next stop? When is it?"

"You'll see when we get there," Clockwürk replied, once again cryptic about their next jaunt.

"Not even just a little hint?" Petra asked.

"Okay, fine. 'Kingdoms.' That's all I will say."

"What kind of a hint is that?"

"A cryptic hint."

"Of course.

"Come on, guys," Jessie said. "Let's get a move on."

"She's right." Clockwürk started spinning the magic clock in a circle again. "Here we go!"

The splendor of the Kiva Empire vanished behind the screen of pink magic, and all that was left was the unknown. Time turned, and Jessie could only guess where they were going now.

 **A/N:** **Yep, Emperor Zero is an allegory of Emperor Nero of real Roman antiquity. That's what you get for persecuting the early Christians; 1900 years after your reign, a plucky teen satirizes you in her video game fanfiction.**

 **What a horrible bout of writer's block! My goodness...**


	12. Knights of the Square Table

**Kingdom of Cameblock**

 **About 600 years BJ**

"If we do another time jump, I think I'm gonna be sick," Jessie said when they landed. "Is this the last stop? Please tell me this is the last stop."

"It's the last stop," Clockwürk said plainly.

There was a chorus of relieved sighs from the travelers.

"Where are we now?" Petra asked.

"Oh, hey, that's a song!" Lukas chimed in. "I have it on music disc back home. Some editions call it 'wait,' though. It's a good song."

Petra muttered something about Lukas being a "music nerd" under her breath.

"I'll tell you in a minute," Clockwürk replied. "We don't want to waste any time here, so let's make sure we have a plan."

"Okay…" Jessie conceded, not sure what the plan could possibly be. Her gang was not famous for their well-thought out plans (they had a habit of just winging it all the time) and Clockwürk, from the samplings they'd had, didn't seem to be much of a planner either.

"The treasure of time that we are looking for here, in this time spot, is actually _not_ a gem this time," he began. "What we seek is a legendary sword called Pixelibur. Very powerful. Quite magical. And really rather awesome. Once we find it and acquire it, we can teleport back to the current day and give the items to my father. Then he should be able to reopen the portal and you all can be on your merry way."

"Ooh, oh! Can we go just a little bit into the future?" Lukas begged. "I want to sneak a peek at what I'll be like as an adult. I'm still only a teenager. Who do you think I'll marry?"

 _Can it be me?_ Jessie thought.

Clockwürk just facepalmed. "No, Lukas. We don't need to do that. Let's focus on getting the last treasure before we worry about any extra jaunts to the future."

"Oh, all right." Lukas sighed. "I am really curious, though."

"We can think about it, okay? Right now we need to find Pixelibur."

"Okay, okay."

"Well, let's see. What are our outfits this time?" Jessie glanced over at their guide.

Clockwürk's toga had become a red tunic, secured about the waist with a leather belt. No longer in the era of robes and togas, he had on loose woolen pants and scuffed leather boots. There was a cowhide satchel at his hip, with the strap running over his shoulder. He looked ready for adventure.

Lukas had a similar outfit, but his tunic was beige and his cloak forest-green. He had leather bracers on his wrists and shin-guards on his lower legs. His regular bow had become a graceful longbow, nicely matching the quiver stocked with arrows on his back. He looked like an elf warrior. Jessie half-expected to see pointy ears the next time he turned his head.

Ivor's olive-green robe had made a reappearance, but with a more medieval spin this time. It now sported a hood lined with gray fur and numerous pockets down the front and sides for storing goodies while on the run. A leather belt holding empty glass flasks and a small book of "magical potion recipes" encircled his waist. Ivor grinned, delighted by his wizard gear.

"Pants. Just once, I want to wear pants," Petra complained as she fluffed the skirts on her dress. It was a white kirtle covered by a sandy-green bodice and overskirt. It laced in a crisscross up her back. A tight leather corset cinched her waist, and Petra's discomfort at wearing one was made apparent by the stiffness of her gait. Delicate white flats covered her feet, and a lovely blue cape trailed on the ground behind her. Her ordinarily loose hair had been tied back in the "princess style," completing the look.

"We look amazing! Like something out of a story book!" Jessie squealed gleefully, spinning a pirouette in her blue dress. It was similar to Petra's, except that the magic had, for some reason, spared her the discomfort of a corset and given her a stained linen apron instead. Rather than dainty white flats, the magic gave Jessie a working woman's practical boots. It had also tucked a fresh daisy into her hair, which stayed put no matter how hard Jessie spun. Lukas watched, amused, as she whirled in circles to make the skirts billow out, like she was seven years old all over again. It was a cute sight.

"Finally, someone's a fan of the costume changes," Clockwürk said. "I'm sorry if you wanted to be fair ladies of the court and knights in shining armor, but I had to keep our outfits modest. We don't want to attract too much attention."

"In that case, we'd best figure out where we are, so we know what exactly we're dealing with here," Ivor said, still searching for goodies in the pockets of his robe. So far, the best thing he had found was a small ruby stone.

"We've passed the BC mark," Clockwürk hinted. "We're well into the AD era now."

"18th century?" Jessie guessed.

"Too far. Backtrack a couple centuries."

"Sometime in the Middle Ages?"

"Bingo, baby! Welcome to the Kingdom of Cameblock. One of many, many kingdoms across the world at this time."

"Interesting geography," Ivor commented as the group examined their surroundings. They stood at the edge of a dense forest of mixed oaks and pines. Snowbound mountains loomed not all that far off, hidden behind a veil of fog. Unlike the fair days in their previous time spots, the weather here was chill, damp, and dreary. A dreamy, misty rain hung in the air, and thick piles of clouds dimmed the sunlight. Despite the somewhat gloomy atmosphere, Jessie couldn't help but feel as if the place was replete with myst and magic just waiting to be revealed.

"If this is the Middle Ages, I see an appalling lack of castles," Petra said.

Clockwürk shrugged. "Oh, we'll see some eventually. We just have to walk a little bit, and we'll be right there." He flipped up his hood, casting a shadow over his face, and started walking. The others followed him like ducklings after their mother. Jessie hoped that he knew what he was doing this time. She also wondered how all these macguffins they'd been searching for would come together to reactivate the portal. She reached into her Pocket and fingered the Spark of Creation, feeling its smooth surface and internal heat. It was still warm to the touch, but not hot enough to literally burn a hole in her Pocket.

They were walking on a gritty road of dirt worn down by years of stomping feet. It snaked around trees and rocks as it led them out of the woods. It was dark enough under the trees that Jessie worried about the possibility of prowling monsters. She kept a close hand on her diamond sword, returned to her after she scared Emperor Zero into thinking that she was a goddess. Ah, that was one of her better moments. She was glad that Lukas had written down an account of what happened in his journal, to ensure that the memory would be preserved.

Petra wasn't having as good a time as Jessie was. The forest underbrush immediately ahead of them had been cleared away for the path, but there was still debris on the peripherals of the road. And somehow, Petra kept snagging her skirts on saplings and fallen branches. Whenever it happened, she dislodged it with a sharp yank, but that usually resulted in tearing the fabric. By the time the gang finally emerged from the woods, the hem of her skirt had been shredded.

"It wouldn't be a problem if I was wearing pants, but _no_ , I have to wear this dorky dress," Petra grumbled.

"Oh, don't complain," Clockwürk said. "See, we're here."

There was a twenty-meter swatch of grass between the woods and the city walls. It made an impromptu campground for the two kinds of travelers waiting to enter Cameblock: shepherds and gypsies. The shepherds were a petulant bunch, arguing with the gatekeepers ("Why can't we bring our sheep into the city? They're our livelihood!"), with the gypsies ("Filthy hooligans, we were here first!"), and with each other ("Find your own grazing land!") Meanwhile, the gypsies happily ignored the shepherds, parking their wagons in circles and tuning their dulcimer violins. Jessie could have sworn she spotted one pluck a shepherd's purse off his belt as he focused on berating her friend.

Jessie and company passed them by, approaching the iron gate set in the stone walls. Four gatekeepers, their armor bearing a dragon insignia on the chestplate, watched the travelers draw near.

"Travelers?" one asked.

"Yes, sir," Clockwürk replied. "Will we be allowed entry?"

"Who do you all have in your party?" He scanned the group of five. "An archer, a cleric, two lovely lasses, and you...whatever you are. No sheep to run loose in the streets...no bulky wagons on the roads...yes, that should be fine. What brings you here?"

"We simply wanted to see what it was like," Clockwürk stated. "We have heard that it is a very fine kingdom. Good, honorable, fair to all…"

"Very well. Open the gates!" The gatekeepers cranked the iron doors open; they protested with squeaking, weather-worn hinges. They shooed the five-man band through the gates and into the city, shutting the doors again behind them.

"You know, I'm not a cleric," Ivor commented once they were inside. "I'm an alchemist."

Cameblock looked like an illustration from a childhood storybook. Castle Cameblock stood on a hill overlooking the sprawling village. Hundreds of quaint cottages dotted the green hills enclosed by the city walls, sitting next to their little farm fields. White smoke puffed from the chimneys of smithies. Whole fish and meat shanks dangled from the roofs of butcher shops. A delicious aroma of freshly baked bread wafted from the bakeries. The only building significantly larger than any other was a stately cathedral halfway between the walls and the castle. Judging by the care and detail put into its elaborate architecture, stained glass windows, and golden bells in the bell towers, the people of Cameblock cared an awful lot for their church.

"Are you sure a magical sword is going to be hiding in a scruffy village?" Petra asked. "It's so...plain."

"Yes, but it's cute," Clockwürk replied. "We aren't looking in the village for the sword. I know exactly what we're to do here this time, and to do that, we need to find an old friend of mine."

"Who would that be?" Jessie inquired.

"You'll see. Here, in here." He pointed at a small tavern nestled among some cottages. It reminded Jessie of the Wobbly Wizard from the water world. It had a cobbled stone foundation, wooden walls, a thatched roof, and a warm glow from the inside. Barrels of wheat sat outside the door. A sign hanging from the awning said that the building was the "Magic Week Tavern."

"Your friend is a tavern rat?" Petra asked as they entered the building.

"I suppose you could say that," Clockwürk answered, "but he's actually very wise, and sharper than a sword to boot. Just because he lingers here often doesn't mean that he spends his time quaffing ale."

Inside the tavern, it was somewhat cramped and rather dusty. Lanterns dangled from the rafter, casting their yellow glow on the bustle of activity below. Men were filling up their tankards and toasting to the health of Cameblock. A party of dungeon crawlers examined a map at one table; a group of knights enjoyed a post-battle drink at another. A tamer sat in a corner, feeding spoonfuls of ham to a baby dragon. It was as if this was a scene of fairy tale characters catching a rest after their stories had been told.

"If you're from the celestial realm, how did you make friends with an earthling?" Jessie was still curious.

"I told you, my friend is a very wise and sagacious person. His gift from the Creator is that can understand deep, cosmic things that others cannot. Look, there he is."

They pushed past the crowd and looked for the person whom Clockwürk was pointing at. He was an older man, hook-nosed and a little plump, wearing a green robe and black boots. His dark eyes were downcast to the floor as he sat there, puffing heartily on a wooden pipe. Every so often he took it out of his mouth and blew a smoke ring.

"Better take that pipe elsewhere, Emrys," Clockwürk said to him. "You know what the barkeep says about filling the whole tavern with smoke."

"Bah, he doesn't notice anythin—My stars! It's Clockwürk!" Emrys glanced up to see who was talking to him and almost spat out his pipe. "It's been a good long time since I saw you walking around this age. Who are these dollop-heads you have with you?"

"A few friends," Clockwürk said. "They needed help getting home."

"I'm assuming you're not just walking them to their houses." Emrys raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"We've already been to the beginning of time and the Kiva Empire. In order to activate the portal…"

Emrys said nothing, but gave Clockwürk an "are you telling the whole truth?" look.

"You came here to ask where Pixelibur is, and I will tell you." Emrys blew a smoke ring. "You don't have time to wander around Cameblock; go right to it. I'm sure your friends are _dying_ to get home." Emrys said 'dying' very deliberately; he knew something that Jessie and her friends didn't, and it wasn't just the location of the sought-after sword.

Clockwürk cringed. "I've been going as fast as I can."

"Where's the sword?" Petra demanded.

"Easy, child. No need to treat me as the enemy." Emrys packed more pipe-weed into the pipe. "Pixelibur is exactly where I left it after the king of Cameblock was determined: the bottom of the lake."

"If so, your girlfriend will be guarding it. That's a problem," Clockwürk said. "How can we convince the Lady of the Lake to let us have the sword?"

Emrys shrugged. "Freya never was a predictable woman. I couldn't say."

"Maybe you could come with us and ask her," Lukas suggested.

Emrys scoffed. "I don't believe this concerns me enough to do so."

"But…"

"But nothing. I've helped you enough." Emrys muttered a phrase in a strange language. Jessie thought that it was just some expression of frustration, but then he puffed away in a cloud of sparkling smoke. It had been magic.

Ivor gasped in delighted surprise. "Incredible! Teleportation! I want to be able to do magic like that."

"Well, so much for that," Petra grumped. "Let's get to the lake and grab this stupid sword."

Everyone else thought that was a capital idea, so they fought their way back through the crowd of tavern rats and left the scene. Jessie assumed that Clockwürk knew where they needed to go ("the lake" wasn't terribly specific) and let him lead the way. Besides, she needed to talk to Lukas about something. She lagged behind their guide to fall into the same pace as blond guy.

"Psst, Lukas," she said to him. "Do you have a second?"

"Yeah," he said. "What's the matter?"

"Clockwürk. Something is up with Clockwürk. Emrys knew something that we don't."

"I thought it was that he just was sensitive to hearing 'kill' and 'die.' Some kind of weird trigger."

Jessie shook her head. "There's something else. He seems like he's been in an awful big hurry ever since we landed in the Kiva Empire."

"I've noticed that too. At first I thought, 'This must be like a boring grocery run for him and he wants the errands done quickly,' but I'm starting to think that something else is at play here."

"I...I'm not sure if we can trust him anymore." It hurt to hear Jessie's voice so worried.

"He could be luring us into danger." There was a dark look in Lukas's blue eyes that Jessie had never seen before.

"Or there's some kind of danger that he's struggling to keep us away from."

"We should do something."

"But what? We can't ditch him. If we do that, we'll be stranded in the Middle Ages forever."

"Yeah, you're right." Lukas sighed. "I'm not one to steal and I wouldn't be surprised if his magic clock only answers to him, so taking it and leaving _him_ stranded is out of the question. I guess we just have to ride this one out."

By this time, they had left the settled part of the village, where the level fields became tumbling hillsides, leading down to a lightly wooded area in the valley. Through the trees, the shimmering blue shape of a lake was visible. The ruins of a castle or temple stood in the midst of the lake.

"We're here," Clockwürk said plainly, and led the group down the hill.

"Oh, goody," Petra grumbled. "More underbrush to snag my skirts on. Why does this dress have to be so dang long?"

They walked through the patchy woodlands until they reached the shore of the lake. A small sand bar formed the border between land and water. There was a dock extending partially into the lake, but it was rotting and coated in moss, so it wasn't safe footing. A less-dilapidated canoe bobbed in the water next to it, tied to a post with a crusty rope. It was a rather large canoe, more than big enough to hold the party of five.

"Ladies first," Ivor said to Jessie and Petra.

"How noble," Petra said, voice dripping with sarcasm, as she hiked up her skirt and stepped into the canoe. It rocked back and forth and almost dumped her into the water. Jessie boarded next, followed by Ivor and Clockwürk. Lukas waded into the shallow of the lake and untied the canoe from the post. After he'd untied the boat, he boarded with the others as they grabbed oars off of the boat floor. They pushed off as a group effort and started paddling.

"Head toward the middle of the lake," Clockwürk instructed. "The Lady of the Lake wouldn't hang out by the shore."

Petra sighed. "I hope it doesn't take too long to row to the middle. This is very boring."

"We should sing a boating song!" Jessie suggested. "Oh, I could even do a little parody. _Let it row, let it row_ —"

"NO!" the others cried. "Anything but that horrible song!"

"I've had that awful tune stuck in my head for three years!" Ivor cried.

Jessie wilted. "Okay, maybe not that one."

" _Row, row, row your boat/Gently down the stream,_ " Lukas crooned, offering a better option.

The others accepted that ditty and joined in. " _Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily/Life is but a dream._ "

"Petra, don't force your voice into a soprano," Ivor critiqued. "You come off as more of an alto."

"Can we do another verse?" Jessie requested.

So they started again. " _Row, row, row your boat/Gently down the stream/Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily/Life is but a dream_."

"Huh. Ivor, you're actually right about having the proper pitch," Petra admitted. "That _does_ sound better."

They sang the boating song until everyone was sick of it. But by that time, they had reached the middle of the lake, eliminating the need for any more ditties to fill up the silence.

"Okay, we're here," Lukas said, glancing at the sparkling water. "What do we do now?"

"So let me get something straight," Petra said to Clockwürk. "This Lady of the Lake character is your friend Emrys's girlfriend?"

"Uh-huh," he said. "They were madly in love when she was still a human. Not so much anymore, but he still visits her every once in a while."

"Aw, cute," Jessie said, overhearing their conversation. "Do we need to summon the Lady, or is she going to spring out of the water on her own?"

"Summon the Lady of the Lake!" Clockwürk scoffed. "No. She only comes on her own volition."

Petra leaned against the side of the canoe, almost tipping it again. "Does that mean that we have to sit here and wait for her to come? I think our time could be better spent."

"Is that so?" an etheral woman's voice asked. The passengers on the canoe yelped and turned towards its source to see the ghostly, misty form of a woman looming over them. She had on a clean white gown and her wet black hair clung to her neck and shoulders. Despite her rather scary appearance, she had a kind look in her eyes.

"It's the Lady of the Lake!" Lukas squealed.

Ivor nudged him. "Ask her where the sword is."

"Why don't you ask her?"

"Oh, fine. Lady of the Lake, may we have the sword Pixelibur?"

"Please, Miss Freya?" Jessie begged. "We really, really need it."

Freya crossed her arms. "Why should I just hand it off to you? I'm not about to simply give away a powerful ancestral sword to random travelers."

"I thought Emrys introduced me to you, Freya," Clockwürk said. "Unless I'm remembering things wrong. I tend to do that."

"That depends. Who are you? Refresh _my_ memory."

"Clockwürk. You know, son of Father Time and Mother Nature. I'd bow, but I might tip the boat."

"Clockwürk, Clockwürk," she repeated. "Sounds a tad familiar. And you say that Emrys introduced you to me?"

"If I'm remembering things correctly. He and I go way back...Me farther than him, of course; I'm 8,000 years old, but still."

"Fair enough. But who are these young fools?" Freya pointed at Clockwürk's companions.

"A few friends. I'm helping them get back home. And for it, I need your help, Freya. Can you lend a hand to a friend of a friend?"

"Hmm-mmmph. Men are so needy. What is it you want?"

"Where did Emrys hide Pixelibur? He told me he threw it in your lake for you to guard after the king of Cameblock was established."

"Oh, I see how it is," Freya sneered. "You only need me because of that stupid steak knife."

"We're not very adept at swimming, Freya, and you know where it lies on the lakebed. ...And Pixelibur is _not_ a stupid steak knife! It has great power if energized by the other treasures of time."

"Ugh. Fine. One minute, give me one minute to fetch it." Freya disappeared below the shimmering waves. While she was underwater, Clockwürk pulled out his magic clock and started counting out the seconds. Sure enough, just as he was reaching 60, the Lady of the Lake re-emerged from the depths, proudly bearing a ceremonial sword in her angelic hands.

"Thank you ever so much, Freya," Clockwürk said as he took it from her. His hands were kind of full with holding the clock, so he gave it to Petra. Petra gawked at the gorgeous sword, no doubt entertaining fantasies of hacking off monsters' heads with it.

"Will that be all?" The Lady of the Lake inquired.

"That will be all, thank you. I appreciate it."

At his saying 'I appreciate it,' Freya's sarcastic demeanor softened. "Aw...you're welcome. Farewell for now, Clockwürk. Visit me if you come back to the Middle Ages, all right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Freya waved goodbye and descended below the surface again, spraying water all over the place.

"This is an epic sword," Petra gushed, turning Pixelibur over and over in her hands. Despite lying at the bottom of a lake for who knows how long, the weapon looked ageless. Its steel blade gleamed with a platinum, mirror-like shine. The handle was gilt in gold and pearl. Faintly glowing gems studded the hilt. A runic inscription ran in a spiral down the handle.

"It is rather nice, isn't it?" Clockwürk said. "They say that it was made from an angel's armor."

"That was unexpectedly easy," Jessie commented. "We rowed to the middle of a lake, talked to Emrys's girlfriend, and poof, the sword is ours."

"Would you rather that the final leg of the quest was difficult?" Clockwürk retorted.

"No...I guess not."

The gang rowed back to shore, in higher spirits than before, Clockwürk included. That they finally had all three treasures of time probably had something to do with the enthusiasm. But they still refused to sing any more of the "row your boat" song. As soon as the canoe bumped against the sand bar, its occupants climbed out and stepped ashore.

"We did it, guys!" Jessie chirped. "We have the three treasures!"

"Well done, friends," Clockwürk applauded. "Now all we need to do is return to the present day and give the items to my father. I'll remedy that posthaste."

"Hooray!" Petra cheered. "That means I can stop wearing the dorky period dress. My real clothes, my real armor, my lucky bandanna! I can't wait."

"I'm a little disappointed that I didn't actually get to use my bow," Lukas sighed, running his finger along the bowstring. "Can I just shoot one arrow to get a feel for it?"

Clockwürk conceded. "Fine. Just don't hit anyone. Aim at something inanimate."

"Yay!" Lukas took aim at a haystack in a nearby farm field and loosed the arrow. It arced through the air and...missed the haystack by a good five meters. The longbow was a little _too_ long for Lukas to handle, it seemed.

"Well, we're lucky we didn't have to rely on your archery while on this quest," Ivor remarked.

Lukas whimpered, offended.

"They say that yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift," Clockwürk mused as he twirled his clock in a circle, activating the time travel to bring them back to the current age. "That's why it's called the present."

 **A/N: Happy New Year, everyone! Say hello to 2017!**


	13. Killing Time, Pt 1

Jessie's feet hit the soggy grass with a dull thump. A cold, clear wind blew past, playing with her hair. She opened her eyes and brushed aside the shock of hair in her face to see the dull sky, lonely field, and distant mountains of the Time Traveling World's current age. However, it seemed ever so slightly brighter than before; the sun struggled to smile through the clouds and the flowers perked up when the time-travelers landed.

"Ahh," Petra sighed with relief, lightly beating a fist against the shoulder of her armor. "Back in my real armor. No more stupid dresses."

"These magical artifacts are astounding!" Ivor mused. "I'd love to just examine them sometime."

"I can't believe we actually traveled through _time_!" Lukas chirped. "We're dimension hoppers _and_ history-hoppers! Oh, this is definitely going in my journal." He whipped out the little book. His quill flew over the pages as he wrote about their experience. Jessie leaned over slightly, hoping to catch a peek of what he was writing.

"You have nice handwriting," she complimented, admiring his cursive script.

"Hey, hey, hey," he said, pulling the journal away from her view. "You're not supposed to judge a book until the first draft is done."

"Just a glimpse? Please?"

"I'm just...I'm not totally confident about it. I want to make sure I'm ready before I ask for critiques."

"Oh, okay. I can respect that."

"Here," Clockwürk said to get their attention. "Jessie, may I have the Spark of Creation now, and Petra, do give me Pixelibur? It'll be easier to give the three treasures to Father Time all at once."

"Gotcha." Jessie pulled the amber stone out of her Pocket and tossed it to Clockwürk, who caught it one-handed. He caught Pixelibur by the handle in his other hand. Jessie grinned, impressed.

"Thank you very much." Clockwürk stowed both items in his own Pocket. "Now, we'd best hurry our way over to the throne. It won't do much good to loiter out here with the treasures."

"Over there is the walled-off spot," Ivor stated, pointing at the round yellow-brick walls.

"We're just a few steps from the goal now!" Clockwürk proclaimed. "Ha-ha! Shake the lead out of your boots, friends, and follow me." He started off at a brisk walk toward it.

"Well, he's awful chipper since we got Pixelibur," Ivor observed. "I wonder what's got him all excited. This isn't _his_ quest, per se. The whole journey is for our benefit."

"I dunno, Ivor, but I need to talk to him." Jessie had some last-minute questions she wanted to ask Clockwürk, so she ran ahead of her friends to catch up to him. After she reached him, she slowed down to match his pace.

"Hello, Jessie," he said, smiling.

 _I haven't seen him this happy since before we left on the time traveling trip_.

"Has any time passed while we were gone?" Jessie inquired as they walked to the walled village.

"I wouldn't think much more than a few minutes," Clockwürk answered. "But Father Time might have fallen asleep again in that time. I've seen him wake up from a snooze, check his favorite hourglass, and then fall right back into dreamland again. There couldn't have been half a minute elapsed between the two naps."

Jessie chuckled. "And we all know that he's a heavy sleeper. Do you need to sleep, Clockwürk? Or can immortals just stay awake indefinitely?"

"I'm only half immortal," Clockwürk rather hesitantly corrected her.

" _Half_ immortal? How does that work?"

"Nature is tangible unlike time, so I was born to a technically mortal mother. It's cosmic stuff. You wouldn't understand."

"That's uncharacteristically condescending of you," she said.

"Condescending?!"

"Supremely supercilious."

"...Do you have one of those word-a-day calendars or something?"

"How did you know?"

He just gave her a look.

"So _do_ you need to sleep, or what?"

He shrugged. "Every so often. I can go longer without it than you could."

Jessie fell back to meet pace with her friends as they gradually caught up to Clockwürk. The company had reached the walls, which shone a buttery yellow in the slowly-emerging sunshine. Walking around the perimeter, they found the gate from before, still looking as secure as ever.

"I don't think Father Time locked it," Ivor said, crossing his arms. "Not when he's expecting us to come back." He strode up to the door and tried pulling on the metal bars running across it. The giant wooden panels refused to budge.

"Push, not pull," Jessie reminded him.

"Oh. Right. Oops…" Ivor gave them a shove and they creaked open this time. The party proceeded into the small walled-off area, their boots tapping on the tidy stone tiles. They passed the forest of white pillars and garden of timepieces, not paying that much attention to them in favor of getting to Father Time's throne. They had already gotten a good enough look at the clocks and hourglasses, they decided.

The pathway ended at the foot of a golden chair, standing regally amongst two grandfather clocks and three hourglasses that were taller than Jessie. And, of course, As before, an elderly man sat in the chair, hunched over and snoring heartily as he slept.

"Ahem," Jessie said. "Father Time? We have returned with your treasures."

The silver-bearded man's head bobbed. "Zzzzz."

"Father Time? Not again…"

"Poke him," Petra said. "That's how I woke him up before."

"Okay, fine." Jessie padded up to the throne and jabbed Father Time in the arm. "Father Time, we're back!"

"Ga'ah!" he cried, snapping awake. "Oi! I am stabb'd!"

"I only poked you."

"What? ...Oh, 'tis only the mortals of the strange world. O child, thou hast returned from thy quest? Is thy mission complete?"

"I think so. We have all three treasures now."

"Splendid!" Father Time smirked. "That be exceedingly good. In that regard, thou hast the Spark of Creation, Tear of Ancients, and the legendary sword Pixelibur? Aye?"

"Well, I don't, but Clockwürk does. Petra and I gave the Spark and sword to him."

"Verily." Father Time turned his attention to his son. "Son? Dost thou have the treasures I requested?"

"Yes, father," Clockwürk answered.

"Then I beseech thee, give them to me." He held out his hand.

"I will. First, the Spark of Creation." Clockwürk took the amber rock out of his Pocket and placed it in Father Time's hand. The old man closed his gnarled fist around the stone, feeling its internal heat.

"Next, the Tear of Ancients." Holding the crystal in both hands, Clockwürk gave it to his father. The ocean-blue prism caught the shy sunlight beautifully, before Father Time hid it away in the same hand that held the Spark.

"And finally, Pixelibur, sword of legends. Be careful. It has no sheath." Pointing the blade down, he passed it along to Father Time, who gripped it by its rune-inscribed handle.

Father Time twirled the blade around so its point faced up instead, and examined his reflection in the platinum shine of the steel. "Mine eyes hath never glimpsed a finer weapon. May it be that only the noblest hearts wield it."

"May it be," Clockwürk agreed.

Father Time regally rose from his seat, holding the treasures. Jessie's heart lifted. Wordlessly, the ancient man strode over to the quartz-and-gold frame behind his throne. The sun finally poked through the clouds enough to wash the world in a faint but sure glow. It was a nearly reverent moment, as if he was preparing to do a ceremonial rite.

"You're going to open the portal now?" she asked.

He grinned at her; she grinned at him.

Then he gave his answer. "No. I have other plans for these treasures."

The clouds rolled over the sun again.

The smile dropped off of Jessie's face instantly. "What? You can't do that. You said that you were going to open the portal if we found the treasures to activate it!"

"Thou seest, Jessie, thou and thy friends have merely been means to an end."

"No. We had a deal…"

"I felt no obligation to keep that deal. Yes, I admit with regret that I had to use thee and thy friends, but I have an important purpose intended for these items. Sacrifice, to a degree, was required."

"Lies," Petra said darkly. "You lied to us."

Blatantly ignoring the friends' anger at the betrayal, Father Time took the two gems and touched them to Pixelibur's hilt, one on either side of the blade. They instantly, magically fused and held fast. White gleams shot up the sword-blade in waves and sparkled at the tip.

"He was supposed to use those to open the portal," Jessie moaned, "not fuse them together into whatever he's making."

"Aha," Father Time said to himself, admiring the shine. "Now this sword ought to be sufficiently powered. I will be in need of this later. ...But first I must deal with these wastrels."

"Either open the portal or give that back," Petra threatened. "This is your last chance, or else I'll have to show you what _I_ can do with a sword." For emphasis, she drew her golden weapon and pointed it at the old man.

Furious at Father Time for duping her, Jessie turned on Clockwürk. "Did you know that he was going to do this? Were you in on this?"

Clockwürk didn't say anything. He looked away uncomfortably.

The girl shook her head in disgust. "Why did I trust you? You led us right along in this deception."

"You fools are no longer needed here," Father Time said to Jessie and company. "Get thee gone."

"Father, don't be harsh with them, please," Clockwürk said. Whether it was genuine or just patronizing Jessie couldn't tell, but she didn't care enough anymore to find out.

"Of all the cheek!" Jessie exclaimed. "He shamelessly fleeced us and he has the nerve to tell _us_ to get out? If he weren't immortal…" She whisked her diamond sword out of her Pocket.

"Wait," Ivor said, putting a hand on her shoulder; he spoke in a low tone so that only Jessie, Petra, and Lukas could hear. "We should do what he says. If we leave now, he will think that we've simply given up and resigned to staying here. Then, later on, we can return and take back the items while he's asleep."

"Ivor, you're a genius," Jessie whispered back.

"Oh, don't start with that now," the alchemist sputtered. "You'll make me prideful."

"That's a good plan," Lukas agreed. "We know that Father Time sleeps a lot and sleeps pretty heavily. We'll skedaddle from here and wait a few hours until night-time, then come back and take the treasure. We'll have to figure out how to separate the gems from the sword, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"I be waiting," Father Time hissed to the friends. "Show thy faces here no more."

"You could've helped us and then you wouldn't have had to see them," Jessie countered, then spun on her heels and ran out of the walled village. Petra, Lukas, and Ivor followed none too far behind. Past the timepieces, past the pillars, and over the tiles they charged, then out the door and into the field beyond. They stopped by a sparse grove of dead trees.

Petra was grumbling and shaking her head. "I still don't believe it. Why did we trust that slimeball?"

"Him and his son both," Jessie said, her tone biting. "Clockwürk knew—he knew!—full well that this was a trick. And he still led us through that whole Herobrine-hunt anyway." ("Herobrine-hunt" was a term that meant the same thing as "wild goose chase" or "snipe hunt.")

Lukas walked up to her and patted her on the shoulder. "It's okay, Jessie."

"No, it's not, Lukas. I'm really steamed here. All that time we spent time traveling? All those worlds we visited, all those treasures we collected? All for nothing."

"We'll get them back," he reassured.

"What do we do now?" Petra asked, kicking a stick on the grass.

"All that's left to do now is wait for nightfall."

* * *

It was time. Night-time had thrown a black cloak over the world, with only a crescent moon and a smattering of stars to break up the darkness. Judging by the moon position, it was maybe an hour and a half, maybe two hours, before midnight. The air had turned chill and the grass was damp with dew.

Jessie drifted out of a light, dreamless doze. She had been leaning with her back against one of the trees. Looking around, she saw that the others had done the same, except for Lukas, who lay on his side on the grass, journal hugged to his chest. He'd fallen asleep while writing in it.

 _He's cute when he's sleeping_ , Jessie thought, and tiptoed up to him to rouse him for action. She half-considered pulling the journal out of his hands first and secretly reading an entry or two, but ultimately decided against it. Number one, they had more pressing matter to attend to first; number two, it would probably wake him up and he'd be upset that she was "stealing" his diary; and number three, she wanted to respect his wishes that the book only be read when it was complete.

"Psst. Lukas. Wake up," she whispered, poking him gently in the shoulder.

"Mmmph...Jessie?" he mumbled.

"Time to go."

"Okay, I'll wake the others." He stowed his journal back in his Pocket and stood up. After Petra and Ivor had been roused as well, they walked back to the walled-off place and slipped through the doors. They stole through the courtyards until they reached the throne.

"Shh," Jessie admonished as they approached it. "Don't make too much noise. He's a pretty heavy sleeper, but still."

Father Time was, once again, fast asleep in his throne. (Did he even have a bed?) He held the powered sword as he slept, the tip touching the ground. There was no sound except for the rhythmic ticking of the numerous clocks around his chair. It was so quiet that Jessie could almost hear the sand slipping through the hourglasses.

Her heart thumped as she nervously drew closer, calculating each step. She had to be as quiet and careful as possible in order to take the sword from Father Time without his noticing. She crept right up to the throne, then balked as she looked at the weapon in his hand. How was she going to take it without alerting him?

She cautiously moved Father Time's fingers off of the handle, one by one. When his grip on it finally released, she snatched the weapon up before it could hit the ground. Then she drew back and darted away from the throne, panting from the suspense. That was harrowing!

"I've got it," she croaked to the others once she had rejoined them. "Now quick, let's get out of here before he wakes up again."

"But the portal's right here, not out there." Petra pointed at it.

Why did the portal have to be right behind his chair?

They frantically glanced at the portal and then back to each other. Should they try here or flee?

"The portal is right here!" Ivor almost shouted, catching himself before he actually did. "If we run away to take apart the sword, then how are we going to get back here and activate it without Father Time knowing? Moreover, we don't know how to use the items to activate it in the first place!"

"But if we stay put, then he'll catch us!" Petra shot back.

"If we run away, he'll catch us. Because there's nowhere to run once we reach the mountains."

"Oh snap," Jessie whimpered, clutching the sword. "This is bad."

"It's now or never," Lukas said. "We can break apart the sword, take the pieces to the portal, and pray for the best. Maybe something will happen."

"What kind of a plan is that?" Petra snapped.

"The only option we have now, that's what."

Jessie yanked at the Spark and Tear gems embedded into Pixelibur's hilt, but they refused to budge. She tossed the blade on the ground and attempted to wedge the point of her own sword into the seams of the gem insets, hoping that she could pry them out.

"Come on...come on!" she growled. "Rrrgh! I can't break them out!"

The minutes slipped away like they had been greased with canola oil. There was no telling when Father Time would wake up and notice that his artifacts had been taken.

"Let's get out of here," Lukas said. "It'll buy us a few minutes when he comes looking for us. Keep trying to pry out the gems, we'll keep a lookout for trouble."

The gang sprinted back out of the walled area, returning to the grove of dead trees. Jessie barely noticed the frantic dash as she focused on trying to remove the gems. She knelt down, dropped the sword on the ground again, and continued to pry, still to no avail. The others stood by, looking around anxiously.

"Please," she begged.

A church bell clanged harshly in the background. A warning bell.

"He knows," Lukas gasped.

"Hurry, Jessie!" Petra yelled.

" _Can't you see that I'm trying?_ " Jessie almost roared.

It was a scary sight to see the friends at each others' throats in their panic. But it was too late. A shadow loomed over them, blotting out the moonlight.

"I knew it," said a voice shaking with hardly-controlled anger. It was Father Time's voice.

"Please...please understand," Jessie pleaded, not even looking up at him. "We need this."

"And you think I don't?" He was so upset that he had snapped right out of his antiquated speech pattern.

Jessie jumped to her feet and spun around to face Father Time, gripping the sword so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. The ancient-as-time man stood before them, somehow looking larger and taller than before. Instead of the air of amusing absurdity that had surrounded him previously, his impact now was one of pure menace. Clockwürk stood by his side; his expression was unreadable, but he was holding the chain of his clock as tightly as Jessie held the sword.

Father Time pointed a crooked finger at Jessie. "Give me that. _Now_."

Something clicked in Jessie's psyche. She felt her muscles tense, standing her ground.

"We don't owe you these artifacts," Ivor said to Father Time.

"You tricked us. You _used_ us," Petra added. "You don't deserve to have them."

"Who are you to say a thing like that?"

"Someone who has a sense of right and wrong."

"Jessie, please…" Clockwürk pleaded. "Just give him the sword. You don't understand what's going on here."

"Shut up, Clockwürk!" Jessie yelled at him. "I never should have trusted you."

"Give me the sword or I shall take it by force," Father Time threatened.

Petra vehemently shook her head. "I can't believe you. You would use us for your own purposes and then you have the gall to act like the victim? You're selfish. It's disgusting."

"And _you_ don't have the foggiest idea of what you are truly doing!" he retorted.

"I trusted you and you betrayed us," Jessie said. "You and your son both betrayed us. I'll never forgive you for this, even if we die here in this blasted dimension."

The church bell clanged again.

"Jessie," Clockwürk gasped hoarsely. "I'm sorry."

Clockwürk shuddered, put his hands over his heart, and then collapsed to the ground. He hit the stones with a thud, landing on his side.

The whole dimension seemed to quiver and heave. Even the moonlight flickered.

The fighting halted. All eyes were on the fallen boy.

"What...What the?!" Jessie couldn't make sense of what just happened. "What was that? Clockwürk fainted…?"

"Something isn't right here." Lukas ran up to him. He knelt down and brushed the red bandana out of the way, then felt by the base of Clockwürk's neck. After a few seconds, he drew back and looked up at Jessie with a shocked expression.

"Clockwürk didn't faint," Lukas said. "He...died."

 **To be continued...**


	14. Killing Time, Pt 2

"What?" Jessie screeched. "No, that's impossible...no! What's going on?"

"I don't know what to tell you. I can't find a heartbeat!" He was still feeling for a pulse, to no avail.

"What is go...I don't get it, how did he just drop dead like that?" Petra joined Jessie and Lukas as they knelt beside the fallen Clockwürk.

Jessie kneeled next to Lukas and felt for a pulse to see for herself. She touched two fingers to the base of the boy's neck, right next to his trachea. The throb of a heartbeat was absent. Frowning in sad confusion, she withdrew her hand.

"He seemed perfectly healthy this whole time," Ivor said. "There is no logical reason why he died suddenly."

"This is your fault!" Father Time accused, his voice shaking with emotion. "You killed him. You let him die!"

"I don't...I didn't…" Jessie stammered. "...We didn't know that this would happen. Why didn't you say anything?"

"How dare you! You're going to blame _me_ for the death of my son? He died because of what _you_ did! You're a murderer!"

Thunderhead clouds had rolled in over the moon. A harsh clap of thunder cracked across the sky.

"We could have avoided this if you had just told us the truth," Petra said. "But no, you had to use us as means to an end and look where it got us!"

"Would you have found any need to help me if there was nothing in it for you? If there was no promise that I would fix your precious portal?" Father Time challenged. "There was no way to satisfy both of our needs. Either you four are trapped here forever or Clockwürk dies. It was a choice, and you chose to kill him."

"Please, don't say that," Jessie said, near tears. "We didn't mean for this to happen."

"A lot of clout that holds now!" Father Time snapped. "Why don't you tell that to Clockwürk's dead body? _I'm sure he'll understand!_ "

Barbed words! "Isn't there any way to revive him?" she asked.

"I don't know if there is." The elderly man sighed in frustration. "As an immortal, I would have no need to look for any ways."

Jessie pulled the magic clock out of Clockwürk's limp hand and studied it. Maybe it could give a clue?

"Don't waste your time. You've done enough harm already."

Jessie was tired of taking hits from Father Time. She ignored him and continued looking at the clock. Instead of the typical numbers or Roman numerals, the hours were marked by strange symbols and little pictographs. Some of them made sense, like a triquetra in the spot where the 3 should go, but others were totally nonsensical, like an image of a cat in the spot for 11. The hands on the clock spun and flailed feebly, like a compass needle in the Nether. That was unsettling, but what really disturbed was the dark, smoky mist swirling under the glass cover. It slammed into the cover repeatedly, as if it was trying to escape. Jessie couldn't make sense of any of this and stowed the clock in her Pocket.

"How did this happen?" Petra stepped in. "Why did taking the sword lead to him dying? I'm not...This doesn't make sense, and it's getting really annoying."

Father Time wrung his hands anxiously, trying to think of what he wanted to say.

The magic clock shook unexpectedly in Jessie's hands. She dropped it in surprise.

"No!" she yelped, and dove to grab it precisely too late.

When it hit the ground, the glass cover cracked and the mist seeped out. It grew and formed into the shape of a person: an apparition of a male of indeterminate age. He was a cloud of mist as ashen as death. His expression was both angered and a little sad. Jessie couldn't even tell if he was good or bad, but she assumed bad. So far, she hadn't had an agreeable experience with ghostly figures. This one seemed to suck the life out of the scene just by his presence.

"They have asked the critical question," the misty guy said. "Who will explain the story...you or I?" His voice was soft, and quiet but intense.

"Who's this?" Ivor wondered aloud. "I'm sensing a backstory here."

The ancient man gave no answer.

"I am Teardown," the mist said, answering Ivor's question. He took a few steps toward Father Time and the others standing nearby, and as he did, the grass around his feet not merely wilted, but completely wasted away to tarry dark glop. Teardown indeed.

"Well now, Father Time," Teardown continued, "shall I be the one to tell this story? After all, these children know that you're a filthy liar. I however, can tell this tale in truth. Decay and disorder do not lie…"

"Oh, Teardown, why did you have to go this way? This way of anger and vengeance? Perhaps I should call you by your old name, E—"

"Silence, you old fool!" Teardown rumbled. "You have withheld the truth long enough."

"I want the truth," Jessie said plainly.

"You all were but means to an end," Teardown began, "used for his own purposes. Now I suppose you know that, but what you do not know is why you were used so callously. The ruin you see before you in the world? It was not always so. Once it was vivacious and lovely, sustained by the gentle hand of Mother Nature."

"There they go with mentioning her again. Clockwürk's ma. What happened to her?"

"I killed her," Teardown said, prompting gasps from Jessie and the others.

"How could you do that?" Lukas accused.

"I could do that because I _destroy everything I touch!_ " Teardown snarled. He stomped on the ground and withered a nearby tree to black sludge, for emphasis.

"Murderer," Jessie whispered.

"You're just like the others," Teardown choked, his voice strained. "It was an accident, don't you get it? Doesn't anyone in this whole blasted dimension get it? Would I have intentionally killed the only one who ever showed me an iota of kindness?

"I was created to destroy. The Creator made me to be the manager of decay and disorder—to create chaos where there once was stability, sickness where there once was health, and destruction where there once was wholeness. And _they_ all derided me for doing my job. Father Time did, Nuclear Force did, Gravity did, Cosmos did...only Mother Nature knew that it was my _purpose_ to wear everything down so the Master could make them new again. How tragically ironic that she was the only one truly affected by my work.

"What Father Time will never tell you is that she and I were friends. Yes, life and death were friends. We talked about many things. She told me about her life's work, which was to sustain the world that you can see and touch. And I told her about mine, which was to drive the force of entropy and wear it down. Together we made the delicate balance of life and death on earth."

Everyone was quiet as Teardown related his story. Even the storm in the glowering sky had subsided. The group hesitantly glanced back and forth between Teardown and Clockwürk. Father Time had picked up his son and now held him piéta-style across his arms. No mortal present wanted to be the one to anger this powerful Force of decay by interrupting him.

"So, how did Mother Nature...die?" someone asked. It didn't matter who.

"From the beginning we had an unspoken rule, knowing our natures. I could not touch her and she could not touch me. She being a driver of a tangible force, she was susceptible to the decay that I created if I touched her. Cursed be these _deadly hands_! But one day, I finally caved and told her about my loneliness. I could hold it in no longer. And as I talked, I was overcome with emotion. I forgot our rule, and she did too. We ran at each other and embraced in a hug. And as soon as we did, I knew that I had made a dreadful mistake." Teardown's voice cracked. His eyes were shiny with oncoming tears.

"What happened?" Lukas said softly.

"She withered away in my arms. Like a flower in the desert heat. I felt the world give a shudder as she died. I became a murderer! What would I say to her husband and son? Especially as he—" He pointed a furious finger at Father Time. "—understood nothing! And he still does not to this day! When she died, this whole dimension lost its sustainment. And I could only wonder if the same happened in all other worlds, unless they had Mother Natures of their own. It was caught in stasis; it was never fully alive nor fully dead. But the ancient laws of Thermodynamics still stand, and this world is ever progressing toward complete disorder. I figured that, by becoming Teardown, I could hasten the process and put this world out of its misery. Then perhaps it can be made new again."

"I don't understand," Jessie said as Teardown finished his story. "Why did Father Time need the artifacts? I'm still not following."

"I needed the artifacts because—" Father Time began, but Teardown interrupted him again.

"Silence, churl. Feed them no more lies. I have not forgiven you for capturing me unjustly. What I did was tragic but not intentional. Yet you locked me away in your son's timepiece for it. I could have helped you all this time, but you imprisoned me. I warned Clockwürk of what was to come if he failed in his quest. And now it has come." Teardown gazed pointedly at Clockwürk's corpse.

" _You_ be silent!" the ancient man retorted. "I never needed your help. I will use Pixelibur to reverse the damage you have done, to cut open the grave and save her, and I will do it without your filthy assistance. Get lost, Teardown."

"Don't you see, you crusty old idiot?" Teardown clenched his fists. "You will not use the sword because you _can_ not! Only I can, because it was I who committed the wrongdoing in the first place."

"That's a lie. I told you, get lost."

"A lie? A _lie_? You accuse me of lying? Hand over the sword, you fool, or your pride will be the death of everyone present! See, the decay will end them as well if nothing is done!"

"Well, that's disconcerting," Jessie said.

"Man, these guys sure talk fancy," Petra commented. "Is this even our fight? I feel like we shouldn't really be here."

"That's what we've been trying to fix this whole time," Ivor pointed out.

"This isn't working," Jessie said. "They're just going to keep arguing forever. Neither one is backing down."

"Hopeless," Petra muttered.

Teardown and Father Time were still arguing. Black trails of goo crisscrossed the ground wherever Teardown had paced during his orate. Father Time had laid Clockwürk's body on a pad of moss growing near the trees, next to some wilted flowers. Instead of holding his son, the ancient man now guarded the powered Pixelibur jealously. He wanted to keep it away from Teardown. Teardown circled Father Time with a daring look in his eyes, ready to make a grab for the sword.

"Just give it," he hissed. "You're only making this harder for yourself."

"Don't delude yourself!" the ancient man retorted. "Why would I trust you? As soon as you get your filthy mitts on this, you're going to destroy it. You'll throw it into the Void. I know it."

"How do you know that?" Teardown challenged. He stomped threateningly, sending a shockwave of decay that melted two nearby trees into tar.

"Who would trust the master of decay and death? You're demented if you think I'm going to pass off my only hope to _you_."

"This world is going to be destroyed and it will be your fault." Teardown lunged at him, trying to snatch Pixelibur. Father Time dodged to the side (he was surprisingly spry for a man as old as time) and scurried away towards the shelter of the walled-off place as Teardown lost his balance and tumbled to the ground. Teardown staggered back to his feet and gave chase, leaving behind a man-shaped blotch of decay on the grass. Teardown was faster than Father Time, and gained on him quickly. They disappeared behind the walls.

Lukas watched them fly away. "You know, I never thought that I would ever see the personifications of time and entropy getting into a tussle over a magic artifact."

"Sheesh. All this over a dumb sword," Petra commented.

"Oh, no, it's more than that," Ivor said darkly. "What if Teardown bumps into the portal frame during their scuffle?"

Petra shrugged. "So what if?"

"He destroys everything he touches, remember?" Lukas warned.

Jessie gasped. "And then we _really_ will have no way of leaving! We have to go break up their fight."

"Yeah, let's go!" Petra took off running the way Teardown and Father Time had gone.

"Wait, what about Clockwürk?" Lukas pointed at the body. "We can't just leave him here in this bog."

"Don't worry, I don't think he's going to be offended much," Ivor replied sarcastically. "And this isn't a bog. It's a grove of trees."

"Who even cares?" Petra had already taken off running, and Jessie wasn't too far behind. The gates on the walls were still open, so they pushed through and ran into the courtyard, looking for the combatants.

"Where did they go?" Lukas asked, glancing around. "Did they fly away again?"

A loud cracking sound, like breaking stone, answered his question. The yellow walls collapsed and crumbled into rubble. Teardown fell out of the air and landed on his back a few paces away. Father Time had thrown him.

"Oof!" he grunted. When he impacted the ground, he left a crater and sent chunks of dirt flying. Jessie and her friends ducked to avoid them.

"Great Scott," Ivor exclaimed.

Teardown wasn't deterred; he climbed out of the crater, smattered with the black gunge of decay. He looked like he had gone for a swim in a pot of bitumen.

Father Time landed nearby, still keeping a death grip on Pixelibur. "Ha! Just because I'm as old as creation doesn't mean that I cannot fight. Look at you!"

"I'm well aware of it." Teardown calmly wiped off the glop, then lunged for the sword again. He managed to seize it by the blade while Father Time was gloating. Jessie expected him to recoil in pain and start bleeding from the hands, but no such thing happened. As the immortal personification of a force, a mere sword blade wouldn't harm him.

"Let go, you wastrel!" Father Time snarled. "This doesn't belong to you. Leave it to the master of decay and disorder to ruin everything!"

"I'm not ruining anything," Teardown shot back, trying to yank Pixelibur out of Father Time's hands. "You're the one ruining your own chance. Give me a chance, old man!"

"This isn't working," Lukas said, panic creeping up in his voice. "They're too evenly matched. Regardless of who's right and who's wrong here, neither one is going to win."

Jessie studied Clockwürk's watch with dismay. "Um...guy? Should the watch hands be going this fast?"

Instead of vaguely flailing about, the watch hands were now spinning madly, going clockwise of course. They turned dozens of revolutions a minute, as if indicating an incomprehensibly fast passage of time.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that's a bad sign," Petra said, looking over Jessie's shoulder.

It was a bad sign.

"Guys…?" Lukas watched, horrified, as the ground buckled and the white pillars disintegrated. The hands on the clocks around Father Time's throne were likewise spinning like crazy. The sand in the hourglasses slipped through so quickly that it actually punctured the glass bulbs and leaked out.

"Time is running much, much faster all of a sudden," Ivor mused. "Thermodynamics have been accelerated. The whole world is decaying to nothing."

A loud shuffling sound echoed through the sky. It sounded like crinkling paper, magnified a hundred times.

"What was that?" Jessie glanced around, trying to figure out what had made that noise. Had that come from Teardown and Father Time in their duel?

 _RRRRRRRRRIP._

Defying logic, a giant tear split the sky from top to bottom, as if it was made out of paper. The corners folded in, and then the entire sky—clouds, moon, and stars—wrapped up like a roll of paper. When the sky rolled up, it revealed a stippled gray backdrop behind it. A profound shadow swallowed up the land, now that the moonlight was gone.

Jessie turned to her gawking friends. "What...what was that?"

"What the Nether just happened?" Petra stammered. "The sky can't just roll up like that...that's impossible!"

"The world is ending," Lukas whispered. "The world in this dimension...it's ending, and we're trapped in it. Which means…"

"No!"

Jessie started to panic, pacing in circles and tugging on her hair. "No. No! We can't...No, I won't let us…"

A crackle and groan rumbled from underground.

"This is not how I die!" Petra yelled.

Fiery meteors shot across the empty gray sky.

"Why did I choose this portal?" Ivor moaned.

Far away, the mountains quivered.

"That's it?" Jessie whimpered. "Our time is up...just like that?"

Jessie heard a small thump beside her. Lukas had fallen to his knees in grief.

She caught a whisper, a faint distress call. "Somebody...anybody...please send help."

Help came. The rumble from underground quieted and the force of the trembling ground dampened. The meteors slowed, then halted in midair. Jessie looked up. A new Force had appeared. This one was a woman, with long hair and an even longer pink gown. She wore a twinkling ruby heart on a string around her neck, with a tiny pewter sword embedded in the gemstone. A golden essence surrounded her, and she radiated light.

"Who are you?" Lukas asked shyly.

"My name is Love," said the woman. "Your request was heard, and I was sent to you. This world is ending before its time. My sisters Romance and Friendship cannot stand up to this threat, but I can. So I was sent."

"Please do something, Ms. Love," Jessie begged. "We're running out of time."

"Are you sure you can handle Teardown?" Petra asked warily. "He destroys everything he touches, and he's fighting Father Time to get a powered-up Pixelibur away from him. And I don't think he has good intentions."

"How can you tell?" Love challenged. "Can you see his heart?"

"Please, no philosophy. They're caught in a tie; neither can overpower the other. And as they fight, the world is getting destroyed. What can you do?"

"We can see." Love looked up. Father Time and Teardown came whizzing in again, still fighting each other. Father Time kicked Teardown away, and the Force of decay crashed into the ground again. Dirt and stone tiles flew in all directions. The inside of the crater melted from touching Teardown, and as before, he emerged covered in the tarry stuff. Father Time landed smoothly next to him.

At the sight of Love, Teardown went nuts. He narrowed his eyes and hissed at her.

"So, old man, you called for reinforcements?" Even though he was splattered with his own black gunge of decay, Teardown was still menacing enough to make Jessie take a step backwards. Fire flashed in his eyes.

"Teardown, please calm down," Love admonished. "This is a big misunderstanding."

Teardown strode towards her, fists clenched. "Did Father Time, the old fool, recruit you to defeat me? Woman, I'd advise you not to work with him. He is using you. He uses everyone."

"Now you know that's not true," Love said. "You're just saying that because you're angry with him."

"I have every reason to. This is all his fault."

Love leveled a hard glare at him. "Is it?"

"Yes. Had he not locked me in that blasted magic clock that his son carried around, we could have solved the issue of his dead wife long ago. But no, he blamed me for what happened. Now he deals with the consequences. Namely, that his son is dead because of his mistake."

"He blames you because you did it. I know you didn't mean to, but you can't ignore the fact that you did it."

Teardown snarled.

"Where are you going with this, Love?" Lukas asked warily. Jessie and her friends had taken several steps back. Being so close to Teardown and his deadly touch made them nervous.

"I think we're all a little at fault here," Love admitted, looking around at everyone present: Father Time, Teardown, and the human visitors. She put a hand on her own heart as well.

"Never!" Teardown protested. "This is _not_ my fault! None of this was intentional!"

"Whether you meant this or not is no longer relevant. All that remains is the fact: something must be done or this world will be destroyed. If not, we'll all die before our time." Love looked over at Jessie, Lukas, Petra, and Ivor. "Not just us, either, but these innocents as well."

"So self-righteous," Teardown grumbled. "I suppose you think that you haven't done anything wrong here."

"Have I said anything of the sort? We need to stop shifting the blame from one to the other. That will never remove it. What we have to do is face what we have done...and amend what we can. There is always forgiveness, but some things must be amended thereafter."

"Preach, preach," Teardown scoffed.

"Travelers," said Love, addressing Jessie and her friends, "I am so sorry for this. It was wrong that Father Time used you as means to an end. It was wrong that Teardown threatened your lives. But I am at fault more than anyone here."

"Huh?" Everyone was confused. "How? You weren't involved in this?"

Love's voice turned weepy. "I should've stuck up for you, Teardown. I...I stood idly by while the Forces made a villain of you. We didn't understand, and we didn't want to understand. I'm sorry for how we acted, Teardown. Here I am the embodiment of love itself and I let my folk treat you with hate."

Teardown's expression softened. The rumbling and shaking ceased, and the world was still again.

"Please, please, forgive us. I know now that we need you. You were made to wear things down so they could be made new again. It was wrong for us to get in the way of that. So I'm telling you...you don't have to be the villain. I know there is good in you. You are better than this. Don't be this vengeful, hateful Teardown. Be the good Entropy I knew."

There was a long pause. Dead silence hung in the air. No-one said anything. No-one dared to say anything.

"I love you, Entropy."

An even more bated silence.

"I love you, too."

"Did Teardown say that?" Jessie whispered.

A smile tugged at the corners of Lukas's mouth. "No. Entropy said that."

The smoke surrounding Teardown changed. It evaporated away. When it cleared, Teardown was gone and Entropy was there instead. Teardown had been a dull dead gray, but Entropy was a pleasant shade of green. When he walked, he didn't leave a trail of decayed dark mush behind. His powers of disorder weren't so potent anymore. He seemed more than relieved by this.

"Thank you, Love," he said. "I'm so sorry. I promise, I will do what it takes to set things right again. I can slow the destruction, but I can't reverse it until Mother Nature is brought back to life. Please let me help."

Love looked over at Father Time, then glanced at Pixelibur, then back at the old man. "Do you trust him?"

"Hmmph," Father Time muttered.

"Give him a chance," Love admonished. "People can change."

"Fine." He begrudgingly handed the sword to Love. "But if he ruins everything, it's on you."

Love ignored the grumpy warning and held Pixelibur out to Entropy. "Do the honors?"

Entrophy hesitantly reached for the sword, then drew back. "Are you sure I won't destroy it?"

"This is a strong weapon. Take it."

"All right." He took it.

"Now watch. He's going to break it," Father Time grumbled. "I don't trust the little hooligan."

"Oh, do stow it," Ivor snapped. "I'm getting tired of your complaining."

"Wield it well, Entropy!" Love encouraged. "This sword will cut open the grave and bring back a life wrongfully taken!"

Entropy wielded Pixelibur with shaking hands. He caught sight of his reflection in the shiny, glowing blade. Then he sliced downwards in a smooth arc. The whistle of the blade cutting through air echoed mightily. The blade tore a gash through reality itself.

"My stars!" Father Time mused. "Do mine eyes see it? Doth this be true?" Hope was on the rise, as evidenced by his return to his Old Englyshe.

Entropy reached through the gash, and when that didn't work, he stepped through it into whatever lay beyond. Jessie squinted, trying to see what he was doing. He wasn't there for more than a few minutes before he emerged again, grinning triumphantly.

"Well? Hast thou found her?" Father Time questioned.

Entropy gave him a look that suggested "Does this answer your question?" and stepped through the gash, holding the hand of a lovely woman that could only be Mother Nature. She had hair reaching down to her ankles with vines and flowers woven in, a billowing green gown looking like it was made of leaves, and a menagerie of friendly animals following in her wake. The effects of Entropy's decay on her had been completely reversed

As soon as Mother Nature set foot in the land of the living, the whole world revitalized. The walls pulled back together and reassembled themselves. The clocks and hourglasses stabilized. Trees straightened and burst into an array of healthy green leaves. The dark gunge left in Teardown's wake melted away. The sky returned, unrolling to cover up the sunless gray blur. It unrolled to reveal puffy day clouds and a golden sun. The night was over.

The first thing Mother Nature did, besides that, was to run up to Father Time and catch him in a big hug. When she did that, Father Time himself became younger, drastically changing his appearance. He had become a middle-aged man wearing a tasteful suit and a top hat. Jessie wondered what would happen if Mother Nature gave her a hug; would Jessie turn into a little kid again?

"I missed you," she said. "I thought I'd have to wait until the end of the earthly world to see you again."

"We came darn near to that," Father Time replied. "But I'm glad to have you back. Welcome home, darling."

They kissed. Petra gagged at the sight, but Jessie thought that it was adorable.

Father Time told his wife that "he had to attend to something very important" and left, running out to the open fields. It must have been extremely important if it was interrupting their reunion. What could it be?

Entropy walked up to Mother Nature, misty-eyed. "I am so sorry, Mrs. Mother Nature. This was all my fault." He abruptly dropped to his knees. "If you want to put me back in Clockwürk's clock, I don't blame you at all."

Jessie took out the clock and looked at it again. The hands still spun rapidly, but this time they went counterclockwise. Time was decelerating now, making the world younger once more.

"Oh, Entropy, haven't you ever heard of forgive and forget?" Mother Nature smiled sweetly. "You've been forgiven, so it's time to put all this behind us. Except for one thing. ...Where's Clockwürk?"

Jessie looked downcast. "Mrs. Nature...I'm sorry, but...he died."

"What? How?" Mother Nature's brow creased. "That's not possible."

"He...I don't know how it works, but it was a bad deal. Either my friends and I were trapped here forever or Clockwürk died. I didn't know that trying to get out of here would lead to Clockwürk dying. I'm...a lot of these have been thrown around lately, but I'll say it too. I'm sorry. I know I can't make it up to you..."

"Oh, stop your blathering," Mother Nature chided, then nodded at the gate. "I can fix this posthaste."

She said this because Father Time was approaching through the gate, holding Clockwürk draped across his arms. Jessie whimpered, embarrassed that she had basically forgot about Clockwürk in all the fuss. But now that Mother Nature was back…

"So from what I understand, Clockwürk died because I wasn't here to sustain this world?" she inquired.

Father Time nodded sadly. "When these strangers stole the Treasures of Time from me, certain was I that I had lost my chance to save thee and our son. However, at this present time thou art here, even so…"

"Shhh," she said gently. She brushed aside a piece of hair from Clockwürk's face. "He's grown up to be so handsome. Let's not let him stay cut down in his prime."

Mother Nature touched one hand to Clockwürk's forehead and the other to his heart. She closed her eyes and murmured, transferring some kind of magic or energy to her fallen son. Everyone else was quiet.

Then she withdrew her hands and opened her eyes, saying, "All right, son. Time to wake up."

Clockwürk cracked open one of those glinting amber eyes. "Mom?"

She tousled his hair. "Yes."

"Mom!" Clockwürk was so excited that he almost fell out of his dad's arms. Father Time righted him and stood him up. As soon as he was back on his own two feet, he flung out his arms and snatched her up in a bear hug.

"Wow, someone's happy to see me." She patted him on the back.

Jessie beamed at the sight. "Clockwürk's alive!" she squealed. "Mother Nature brought him back to life! I dunno how she did that, but it was amazing!"

"Jessie," Petra said. "Chill. We saw it, too."

"I wonder if this means we can go home now?" Lukas asked. "What about the portal?"

Mother Nature overheard them. "Portal? Did you say you needed a portal, little blond dude?"

"Yes, yes," Jessie explained. "My friends and I need to get back to our homeworld. We've been strangers this whole time. Is there any way to get that portal behind your husband's throne to be in good working order again?"

"Hmm…" She rubbed her chin. "Well, if you take the sword Pixelibur, the Tear of Ancients, and the Spark of Creation, the power from those artifacts should provide enough oomph to complete the portal. Ours is special. Takes some extra energy."

"I protest!" Father Time said. "I hath already used those items to power up Pixelibur, that the grave could be rent asunder and thou be retrieved! There was no way to do such _and_ open the portal!"

"Nonsense talk," Mother Nature scoffed. "I think Entropy can help with that, too."

Entropy ran up to them, still toting Pixelibur. "I was called?"

"Entropy, I need you to do what you do best." Mother Nature touched the tip of the sword. "Apply disorder to this, and break it back into its components."

Entropy stared at the sword and then at Mother Nature in disbelief. "I can break this?"

"Yes, sir."

"Yeaaaaaah!" he cheered. With a SNAP and a POP, Entropy dislodged the two gemstones from the sword hilt with ease. The white glow on the blade blinked out.

"Of course it would be easy for him," Jessie muttered.

With the little group tagging along, Entropy carried the three artifacts to the inactive portal frame. He set them in an arrangement before it, with the sword in the middle and the gemstone flanking it. A shaft of sunlight fell just right on the objects, and they gleamed, shooting light beams into the portal. Jessie struck her flint and steel, spraying blue sparks into the frame. The combined efforts activated the portal and the pink goo appeared in a flash of light.

Upon seeing it, Jessie pumped a triumphant fist. "Yes! Score!"

"Wait, don't go yet!" Clockwürk said. "We haven't gotten to say goodbye."

"Thanks for all your help, youngsters," Mother Nature said. "Sorry I haven't gotten much time to get to know you, but from the sampling I've had, I must say that you seem like fine, fine people. Your world is lucky to have people like you hailing from it."

"Aw, thanks." Jessie grinned.

"Thanks for helping turn me back to the good guys," Entropy said. "I'm sorry for all the damage I caused."

"We fixed it, didn't we? No trouble."

"And thanks for putting up with me on the time traveling trips," Clockwürk concluded with a chuckle. "Plus, y'know helping bring me back to life and all. Sorry about all the craziness. You four are the best. Come visit sometime, maybe?"

"Gosh, guys, stop complimenting us," Lukas said. "You're making me blush."

"We'd better go before they flatter us too much," Petra suggested.

"Yeah, let's go."

"Bye, guys!" As she and her friends left through the portal, Jessie offered one last wave goodbye. It was time to go.

* * *

Jessie stepped out of the portal first, followed by Ivor and then Petra. So far, it had been the tamest exit through a portal.

Ivor glanced over his shoulder and gave a little start of surprise at what he saw. The others turned to see what had startled him: a middle-aged man in a tasteful suit and top hat. Father Time had tried to leave the time traveling dimension with them.

Jessie frowned and turned him around, then pushed him back through the portal. She wasn't putting up with his nonsense anymore. And then she noticed that her party was short one member, Lukas.

Okay, no problem, he was probably just outside the portal. He had left along with everyone else. So she reached through the pink goop until she felt the edge of a piece of shoulder armor. There was her guy!

Lukas found her hand and grabbed it, and then she pulled him through the portal into the Hallway.

"What just happened?" he gasped.

Petra just growled in frustration and stormed down the Hallway, while Ivor though the switcheroo was hilarious.

Well, regardless, there were still many more portals to be explored...

 **A/N: Aaaaaand now Arc Three is a wrap! Thanks for coming along, you awesome people. And being patient, because wowza, was this a long one. I'm excited for Arc Four, how 'bout you?**


	15. The Twilight of our Adventure

Once again, they were back in the Portal Hallway. A rainbow of colored lights splattered the floor from the portals lining in the walls, pushing back the canopy of shadows that shrouded the ceiling. Jessie mentally crossed off the ones they had already visited: the killer mansion portal, the water world portal, the monsters and ghosts portal, and the time travel portal. She could only wonder what bizarre adventure was in store for them next.

"Who's up next?" Ivor inquired, once he was sure that the dream team had been reassembled in the Hallway—Jessie, Petra, Lukas, and himself, with no-one missing and no-one extra. All good.

"I picked the water world portal," Lukas said, "and then Petra picked the green one and Ivor wanted the pink one. So that means...oh. Jess, it's your turn."

Jessie scanned the palette of portals to pick from. "My turn...okay. Um...how about that one? Did we try that one yet?" She was pointing to a white portal surrounded by quartz pillars and gold bars.

"Ugh, it looks just like the time travel world's portal, except that gooey stuff is white," Petra complained. "So darn confusing. I wish we could know what's what here."

"I know, right?" Jessie said. "But for now, this is all we can do. We just gotta hang in there. One of these has to be the right portal."

"What are we waiting for? We won't find it by standing around!" Ivor made a beeline for the white portal.

"Wait for it…" Lukas said, watching the old man run.

Jessie nodded. "Wait for it…"

"ADVENTURE!" Ivor bellowed, before disappearing through the gateway to a new dimension.

"There's our cue."

"Woooaaah!" The foursome tumbled through the portal and communally tripped, landing in a dogpile on the ground.

"Get off! You're crushing me!" Ivor shouted, in the unfortunate position of being at the bottom of the heap. His voice was muffled under the pileup. The friends looked like they had been playing a wild round of Twister. Eventually they managed to untangle themselves and get back on their feet.

"Why do we alway enter a new dimension so clumsily?" Petra sighed. "That was pretty bad right there."

"I wouldn't rank it as our worst entrance, though," Ivor commented. "That would have to go to landing in Sky City. Standing on that tiny island of dirt and having to bridge all the way to the city...ugh."

Lukas and Jessie weren't listening to them gab. They were staring in awe at the world they had landed in. The sky overhead was a dim, star-sprinkled blue, yet the landscape was awash in soft light. The trees had thin, straight trunks that rose a hundred feet into the air and then fanned out into thin layers of canopy leaves. The dark bark of each canopy tree was glittery, sparkling as if the sky had shook off a smattering of stars onto it. Underfoot, the terrain cascaded in gentle hills and slopes, covered in dewy grass. Occasionally, the tree line was broken by the shapes of massive oak trees looming over the rest of the forest. The small pockets of shadows formed by the tree canopy were dispelled by the occasional glass lantern stuck on a fence post. The air was warm and smelled sweet, thick with the exotic scents of cinnamon and incense. Birds, yet unseen, chuckled and chirped, but their calls seemed more musical than ordinary birds. The whole place radiated mystery and magic.

"It's so beautiful," Jessie mused, finally finding words. "What is this place?"

She was answered by the sound of ruffling paper. Lukas flipped through his book, trying to find the biome section written by its original author.

"Mixed forest, no. Birch forest, uh-uh. Roofed forest...close, but this doesn't look like the picture in the book," he mumbled as he searched.

"Any luck?"

Lukas turned another page and finally found what he had been looking for. The ink drawing on the page was only a rough sketch, but its depiction of towering trees and glass lanterns perfectly matched the sights that lay before them now. He took on a bemused expression as he glanced up at the forest, down at the book, then up at the forest again.

Jessie was a little concerned. "Is something wrong, Lukey?"

"That's...impossible," the blond boy stammered. "This book says that this place is only a myth."

"What is this place?" she pressed.

"The Twilight Forest."

"Twilight?!" Jessie squeaked. "Noooo! I don't want to run into angsty vampires and werewolves who can't keep their shirts on! We gotta get out of here!"

"Whoa, calm down," Lukas said. "Not _that_ Twilight. This forest gets its name from the actual twilight. It's called that because it's perpetually caught between night and day. There is no time here. Kinda ironic, considering where we just came from."

"I'll say!" Jessie responded, then turned to the other two. "Petra, Ivor, did you see this place?"

"You bet I did," the alchemist replied. "It's...it's astounding! These trees are ENORMOUS! I know I said that about the jungle trees, but these trees would put them to shame. Each one must be at least a hundred feet tall!"

"It looks like something out of a storybook," Petra said, "as if we would run into fairies and unicorns if we wandered deep enough into these woods."

"Definitely," Lukas agreed. "Do you think we'll meet a talking Lion here?"

Jessie smiled. "The portal _did_ kinda look like a wardrobe…"

"Aaaand the portal's not here," Petra sighed, pointing behind the group. They turned to see...nothing but forest behind them.

"It can't ever be simply there and in good working order, can it?" Ivor complained.

"Nope. Let's go look for it," Petra said.

"Gee, where do we even start?" Lukas glanced around at the endless forest stretching out in all directions. "There's no time here...I sure hope there is direction, though. Does anyone have a compass?"

"No."

"Uh-uh."

"Sorry."

"Rats. Maybe we could use the landmarks we come across as a guide. That usually works pretty well. So keep an eye out for any strange things you see. A weird tree, a stone circle, an abandoned house...anything of that sort."

"Okay, but before we go anywhere, we should make a marker of our own, so we know where we landed," Jessie suggested.

"Oo, that's a really good idea," Lukas agreed. "I'll build something, and that should do the trick. What blocks do we have in our Pockets?"

Everyone started shuffling around in their Pockets for blocks. Petra pulled out two handfuls of iron nuggets, Lukas had a quarter stack of red sandstone, Ivor didn't have any blocks, and Jessie gave Lukas the White Pumpkin's mask, complete with a cut slashed down the front.

"Sorry. It's not much," she apologized as she handed him the scarred squash. "There's only so much worth carrying around while on an adventure."

"Save the pumpkin," Lukas said, giving it back to her. "That's your trophy. I wouldn't want to take it away from you. We don't have enough iron nuggets to make the nine iron bars for a block of iron. I guess I'll just use up my sandstone."

Not wanting to interfere, the others watched as he placed, removed, and re-placed the red sandstone in a lopsided circle. Jessie wondered what it was until he stepped back and checked that the construction was symmetrical. It was then that she realized it was a heart. She chuckled to herself. Ah, Lukas, her lovable softie.

"A heart?" Petra said, looking it up and down. "That's so...wimpy."

"Quiet, Petra," Jessie said. "That was the best he could do with sixteen blocks. Besides, it looks cute."

Petra rolled her eyes. "Did he dedicate it to you?"

Jessie squinted at a black smudge on one of the sandstone blocks. "I think he wrote 'Jessie' on it."

Lukas trotted over to rejoin the group. "How's that?"

"Personally, I would have made a lava skull," Ivor said, "but that should be fine. It's different enough from the rest of the forest to be a good marker."

"Let's get going, then," Petra said. She pointed straight ahead and added, "That looks like a good direction. I'm gonna say that's north for now."

"All right."

They started off in the direction that Petra had designated as "north." Clustered into a group, they marched along quietly. Lukas had his journal at the ready, in case he needed to make note of any landmarks. He flipped to a fresh page and drew a heart at the bottom, to represent the heart he had built as a starting point. It wasn't long before they spotted the first unusual landmark: a large hill swelling out of the ground and disrupting the otherwise placid terrain.

"Huge hill," Lukas said, marking it down in his book.

A few minutes later, he saw half of a stone-brick arch, the last testament of an ancient ruin. Fuzzy green moss coated it. He drew a likeness of it above the "Huge Hill" on his map.

"Ancient arch," he stated.

The next waypoint was a cobbled-stone hut, crumbling to rubble. The chimney had collapsed, spilling bricks across the grass. The wooden roof had rotted and teetered precariously, about to fall apart. Moss and vines crawled up the decaying walls; nature was poised to take back this tiny piece of her territory.

"Little house." Lukas drew it in his book. "Poor little house. I wonder who it belonged to."

They didn't see any more notable things for a while after that. What they did see was a host of animals very different than what they had back home. They were more rugged, more feral. The sheep were thin and had curling horns. The pigs were brown and bristle-haired, with tusks poking out of their mouths. Instead of chickens, this world had flocks of colorful, chirping birds. And the gang never saw a cow; instead, they encountered lithe, dainty animals with flecked coats, sleepy eyes, and what looked like bony tree branches growing out of their skulls.

"I've heard of those before," Lukas had said, "They're called deer."

"'Dear?' I guess some really affectionate person named them," Jessie had said.

"No, not that kind of 'dear.' D-E-E-R. They're really rare in other worlds...I've only seen pictures of them in books. This is so cool, getting to see one in real life!"

By now, they had walked for almost an hour straight, and their feet were getting tired. They found a nearby clearing with some rocks and fallen logs that they could sit on and take a load off.

"We'll take a little break, and then...I don't know," Jessie sighed as she wandered into the clearing. "What were we looking for, again?"

"The portal…" It was a little disconcerting that Jessie, the de facto leader, had forgotten what she was leading her friends to find.

"Oh. Right." She started toward a large boulder on the far end of the clearing. The others hesitantly followed, but then Lukas balked when he spotted a ring of rope on the ground, with the tail end snaking away into the bushes. Instant red flag.

"Jessie, wait—" he said. "Don't step on that rope…"

Jessie spotted the rope loop on the ground when it was precisely too late. It tightened around her ankles, and before she knew it, she was dangling upside-down a good five meters over the ground. The traitorous rope hung down from a low-lying branch. Even though she was stuck, she prayed the rope wouldn't break, because that would mean a headlong fall right onto the hard ground.

"Oh, snap!" Lukas said. "Jessie, are you OK?"

"As good as I can be when I'm hanging upside down! Who set this trap?"

"I don't know, but I'm gonna get you out of it. Hang on."

"That's _not_ funny!"

"Oops. Accidental pun."

"Oh, for the love of...Just get over here and give me a hand, please. I think if you can lower the rope, you can cut the bond around my feet and I won't fall. Don't cut it right away, or I'll land headfirst."

Lukas ran towards the tree that had captured Jessie, but he never got there. He stepped on a pile of leaves that wasn't really a pile of leaves. It was another trap. The leaf pile collapsed underfoot, dropping the blonde boy into a stone pit. He jumped up and scrabbled at the walls, but couldn't climb out.

"Lukas!" Jessie cried. "Oh, no! Not another trap!"

"Great Scott! What is going on here?" Ivor shouted, dumbfounded by what he had just saw. He started towards the pit that Lukas had fallen in, to pull him back out. Rescuing Jessie would be another matter, and he'd probably need an assistant anyway.

"Wait, Ivor," Jessie warned. "Be careful where you step. This place is loaded with traps…"

"Nonsense," Ivor scoffed. "I can spot a trap from a mile awa—AAAUGH!" His foot caught on a hidden tripwire, which immediately dropped a weighted net onto him. Ivor armed his stone sword and tried to hack through the ropes, but his arm got tangled.

Petra drew her golden sword. "Guys, don't worry. I can get you out of this...I think. Are there any more traps?"

"Like they're going to make a TRAP really obvious!" Jessie wasn't wont to be sarcastic, but she was in quite a pickle right now. Her face was flushed red from the blood rushing to her head. And that was giving her a headache. Being stuck upside down really bites.

"Well gee, sorry for trying to help."

"Don't come any closer. There's probably another trap."

"Well, what should I do, then? Stand here and wait for the Trap Fairy to rescue you guys?"

"You know, I wouldn't write that off as impossible in this dimension," Lukas chimed in from within the pit.

"I'm not hearing any better suggestions, so I'm going to help. I'll cut Ivor free first. How's that?"

"No, Petra!" the threesome protested. "You'll get caught."

She threw her hands up in exasperation. "Bother any traps! I'll just dodge them if they try to capture me."

"Is that so?" an unfamiliar female voice challenged. "Dodge _this_."

A woman had snuck up behind Petra while she was arguing with the others. She karate-kicked Petra's sword out of her hand. Petra responded by swinging a right hook at the assailant, but the woman wormed out of the way, socked Petra in the jaw, and then caught her in a headlock. The lady kicked Petra in the back of the knees, forcing her to drop to the ground. Then the woman kneed Petra in the back and held her down that way.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Petra growled.

"LOL nope," the stranger responded, using her free hand to hold down the girl's thrashing arms.

Jessie goggled at the sight. That woman was one heck of a fighter to take Petra down with her bare hands.

"Hey Sam!" the stranger shouted to a yet-unseen companion. "I've got this one under wraps. Be a gem and check out the other traps, willya?"

"Sam" was a thin, dark-haired youth with blue eyes and a burn scar on his cheek. He vaulted over a log to come into view, then joined his lady companion as she struggled to subdue a very resistant Petra.

"How many traps triggered, Wren?" he asked, looking at the clearing. "Well, one at least." He glanced pointedly at Jessie, still swinging upside down.

"Let me down now!" Jessie cried.

"Three, it looks like," the woman apparently named 'Wren' responded. While Sam wandered over to see who they had caught, she pulled out a short length of rope. She wrenched Petra's arms behind her back and bound the girl at the wrists. She thought about it for a second, then took out another rope and tied up Petra's ankles as well. No risks. Once she was confident that Petra was properly hogtied, Wren released her hold and casually tossed her disheveled brown hair over her shoulder before trotting over to join her friend? lover? brother? ...whatever Sam was to her.

"You stink," Petra grumbled to Wren. "I hope you know that as soon as I'm untied, you're really gonna get it."

"I'm terrified," Wren retorted.

"So, who are you blokes?" Sam asked as he undid the rope trap that had caught Jessie, lowering her towards the ground.

"I'd like to ask who _you_ are," Jessie responded. "What are you two doing in a big forgotten forest? Were you born here or did you get lost?"

"Ah, just a couple of travelers. Same for you?"

Jessie believed it. Both Sam and Wren had the looks of long-lost castaways. Their clothes were patchwork, repaired with bits and bobs salvaged from the forest. Their faces were dirty and scarred, and they carried satchels stuffed full of supplies at their hips.

By now Sam had lowered Jessie enough that Wren could cut through the ropes around the girl's ankles. Wren caught Jessie in her arms before she fell, then slung her over her shoulder like a towel. She deposited Jessie in a disoriented heap on the grass.

"Oww...my head," Jessie moaned, struck down with a headache.

"Leave my friends alone, you jerks!" Petra shouted, writhing on the ground like a beached fish.

Sam and Wren ignored Petra and went to work on Ivor next. Wren cut through the ropes with a battered stone sword, then threw them off and helped Ivor to his feet.

"What's the big idea here?" the alchemist questioned. "What's the story with the random traps? Why are you trying to catch people?"

"Well, actually, we weren't trying to catch _people_ ," Wren explained as she and Jessie worked to hoist Lukas out of the pit. "We set those traps up to snag animals. This was the most strategic place to set them up. It was just dumb luck that you guys got caught by them instead."

"Yeah…" Sam scratched behind his ear. "Sorry about that...and Wren's sorry about beating up your friend."

"Don't put words in my mouth, Sam!"

Sam approached Petra, who was in the process of wiggling free from the ropes.

"Hey, how did you do that?" He watcher her, puzzled. "You're almost free. I thought Wren was good at tying knots…"

"I...know how to...escape ropes…" Petra said between effort grunts. "Risky...job as an...item dealer. Need to know how to...escape being abducted…" She slipped the ropes off her wrists. Once her hands were free, undoing the bonds on her ankles was a breeze. She rubbed her wrists, which were slightly chafed from the rope, and glared darkly at Sam.

Sam took several steps backwards, only to bump into Wren as she approached with Jessie, Lukas, and Ivor.

"Hey, watch where you're going," she scolded. "How many of you are there, strangers? And who are you people, anyway?"

"You didn't say who you were before," Sam added.

"There are four of us," Jessie said. "I'm Jessie, and these are my friends Ivor, Lukas, and Petra. We're a little lost and we just want to find our way home."

" _Very_ lost, actually," Ivor corrected. "We're in the plain wrong dimension."

Jessie hid her face in her hands, suspecting that Ivor's mention of interdimensional travel had just killed their chance of Sam and Wren helping them (like they'd help a nutty bar who thinks he's from another dimension!) but to her surprise, they weren't fazed.

"Came here through a portal, did ya?" Sam asked. "No prob. So did we. We just never left."

"How come? Don't you have a return portal?"

"Why the big hurry to leave? Don't you like the Twilight Forest?" Wren sounded almost offended.

Jessie shrugged. "It's a very lovely place, but it's not home."

"Fair enough. Want us to take you to our return portal? It'll make up for snagging you guys in traps and beating up your friend." Wren started walking, then looked back at the group and motioned ahead. "It's this way."

"Return portal? You mean, you go back and forth from this place?" Jessie inquired as she followed after Wren.

"Uh-huh."

"Awesome! This is going to be a piece of cake. My friends and I can just hop through the portal and be out of your hair. Win-win."

 _'This is going to be a piece of cake'_ is one of those deadly, fate-tempting phrases that a character in a story should never say, along with things like _'What could possibly go wrong?'_ and _'I think the worst of it is over.'_

They followed after Sam and Wren for a fifteen-minute walk to the return portal. Jessie looked at everything as they passed by giant oaks, huge fallen logs, crumbling stone ruins, mystic standing-stone circles, and strange obsidian spires. Lukas took note of the landmarks in his journal, mapping a crude route. In case Sam and Wren turned out to be treacherous, he wanted to have a reliable escape route instead of having the group run randomly in the woods and get even more lost than they already were.

They stopped at another clearing, but this one was man-made. Sam and Wren had cut down the trees to make room for a cabin, a mining shelter, and a modest patch of pumpkins and wheat. Smack in the middle of the homestead was—

"Score! There's the portal!" Jessie pumped a fist in the air.

It didn't look like the portals she was used to. For one thing, it was two meters by two meters and flat on the ground, rather than two by three meters and standing upright. Instead of a frame of quartz and gold, it was ringed about by dirt, flowers, and mushrooms. But she could tell that this was the right portal because of the white goo swirling inside. It was identical to the white goo in the portal they'd hopped through.

"That was easy," Petra commented.

"Thanks for everything, guys." Jessie said, walking towards the portal. "You're a really big help."

Jessie took a deep breath, stepped up to the rim of the portal, and…

Stopped short.

The portal flickered out. She was staring into a shallow depression of dirt.

She was incredulous. "Really? You're really going to do that to me, portal?"

"Oh." Sam walked up to the dirt pit. "That's not ideal."

"Don't tell me we're stuck here!"

"Until we get that portal reactivated, yeah, you are stuck."

Jessie facepalmed.

"Okay. Okay. No big deal," she said. "We've gone through this before. Uhm...If I give it a spark from my flint 'n steel, that should do it, right?"

Sam shrugged. "How should I know? That's not how Wren and I usually get it to go, but you can try"

Jessie knelt by the rim and took out her flintensteel. She struck at a hard, sharp angle. It sent the brilliant blue sparks spraying into the dirt impression, but nothing happened. They just fizzled out and the portal remained inactive. Jessie angrily stuffed the tool back in her Pocket.

"Great. Just great," she muttered. "How did you and Wren get the portal started?"

"Usually for this one, you have to surround it in natural stuff—flowers, mushrooms, y'know—fill it with water, and then toss in a diamond. Lightning strikes it, and then ba-bam, you're on your way to the Twilight Forest."

"We don't have any diamonds. Could we borrow one?"

"Well, we don't have any, either." Sam turned out the pockets on his muddy pants. "You'd have to find one here."

"Guys, we are staying here longer than expected," Jessie called back to her friends. "The portal just went out, and we'll need to reactivate it."

"Can't you use the magic flint and steel?" Petra asked.

Jessie shook her head. "No. I need to throw in a diamond."

"Where would we find one?"

Sam and Wren turned to look at something in the distance. The others followed their gazes, which fell on the misty outline of some tall, grim structure looming over the peaceful forest. It was a stone tower with spired birch roofs.

"Uh-oh," Jessie said. Whatever was in that tower was probably not going to make retrieving a diamond easy.

"The Twilight Lich will drop a diamond when defeated," Wren stated. "But we're in no shape to fight him."

"A lich? Isn't that a kind of plant?" Lukas inquired.

"You're thinking of lichen, blond boy. A Lich is an undead wizard. Beating him is going to be a challenge."

"We'll have to stock up on weaponry first," Sam said. "So we're going to detour to a place where we can plunder a little treasure."

"Treasure?" Ivor rubbed his hands together, excited by the prospect of treasure...especially magical treasure.

"There's a Hedge Maze not far from here," Wren said. "Sam and I haven't looted it yet. How good is your fighting, folks?"

"I don't want to brag," Jessie said, "but I think we're pretty good at it. Before we got lost, I could cut down three zombies at once."

"Jessie, we'll be dealing with a lot more than simple zombies," Wren warned.

"Like what?" Jessie got out her sword. The blue glow reflected off her armor.

"You'd have to see 'em to believe them."

 **A/N: Kudos to Benimatic for the awesome Twilight Forest mod that inspired this arc of Portal Party! :) Some creative liberties have been taken to make the Twilight Forest fit in with the narrative of Portal Party, but the overall heart of the setting is preserved.**


	16. In the Hall of the Hedgemaze King

Sam and Wren's Twilight Forest cabin had a storage room off on its south end. It had made an impromptu guest room for Jessie and her friends. The tired travelers really needed a nap. The space was packed with overflowing wooden chests. At first Jessie had told the others to leave the stuff alone, but then her own curiosity got the best of her and she found herself rifling through the boxes and crates.

"Whatever happened to 'don't go through their stuff?'" Lukas asked as he stood over her, watching her rummage through the items.

"Well...it's just...um…" Jessie stammered, embarrassed that he had caught her breaking her own rule.

"Come on, Jessie."

"I'm _looking_ , that's all," she defended. "I wanted to see what kind of stuff you can get from the Twilight Forest. It wasn't like I was going to _take_ any of it. I'm not a thief."

"I know that, Jessie. I can trust you." He patted her on the back and smiled. "Did you find anything interesting?"

Jessie lifted a glass jar with a wooden stopper out of the chest and showed it to him. "Check this thing out! It's a canister of glowing bugs."

"Wait, really?" Lukas peered inside the jar. Sure enough, fireflies flittered around within it, casting a greenish-yellow glow. So that's what all those glass lanterns were: firefly jars!

"I found a couple of this funky black feathers, too." She handed him a long, stiff, ink-colored plume. It was quite unlike the chicken feathers from back home.

Lukas took it and ran his fingers along its soft edge. "This would make a beautiful quill pen. I wonder what kind of bird this is from."

"I think this is an iron ingot, but it's like no kind of iron that I've ever seen." Jessie gave him the last odd find from the chest: a bar of a bizarre gray metal with patches of brown and olive swirled into it. The off-colored patches were not simply tarnish and rust, however; they were a part of the metal itself. As Lukas turned it over in his hands, flecks of gold, caught in the metal, sparkled in the light.

"Weird," he commented. "It looks like some kind of alloy. And it feels...kinda magical. But we should probably be going now. Sam and Wren seemed like they were in a hurry to head off to the Hedge Maze."

"Okay." Jessie crammed the Twilight Forest treasure back into the chest and followed Lukas out of the room. Ivor and Petra had lost interest some time before and wandered outside to meet up with their travel guides.

"Even though we got stuck in their traps, I'm glad we met Sam and Wren," Lukas said as they made their way out of the cabin. "If we hadn't, we'd probably still be aimlessly wandering the woods."

"Yeah," Jessie agreed. "Every time we land in a new dimension, we always meet someone who guides us through it. Some were better guides than others, of course. Who's your favorite so far?"

Lukas shrugged. "Thorne, maybe? She was cool. And really helpful. I hope we can go back to meet her again someday."

"I liked Clockwürk," Jessie said.

"I hope we don't meet _him_ again," Lukas muttered under his breath.

Jessie caught it anyway. "Is somebody jealous?"

"...A little…"

"Lukas, he's 7,982 years my senior. He's a _smidge_ too old for me. I don't think you have anything to worry about."

Fortunately, they had reached the door by this time, bringing the awkward conversation (awkward for bashful Lukas, at least) to a close. Jessie and Lukas exited the cabin and trotted into the clearing. They found Sam and Wren standing next to the inactive portal. The duo examined a large, crinkled sheet of aged paper. It was probably some kind of map. Wren held it out while Sam munched on a piece of cooked fish.

"Got your breakfast fix in yet?" Wren asked him as the foursome approached. "Put that stupid fish down and help me find a good route."

"But I'm hungry," Sam whined.

"I asked if you wanted food two hours ago."

"Well, I wasn't hungry then."

Wren sighed. "Just help me find a route!"

"What was wrong with the old one?"

"It went right through the dense part of the forest, that's what was wrong with it. Do you really want to climb over bushes and briers again? Not to mention that you got stuck in the vines...several times."

"I did not."

"Sam, I saw you get tangled up in them with my own two eyes. You can't stand here and tell me that you didn't get caught."

Jessie spoke up. "Excuse me. May we see the map?"

"Let them see the map!" Sam said to Wren, eager to change the subject.

Jessie, Petra, Lukas, and Ivor congregated around Wren to see the map. It showed blotches of land in various shades of green, bordered by blue squiggles representing rivers. Jessie assumed that each shade of green indicated a different biome. Besides the colors, the map was all marked all over with small icons for major landmarks.

Wren pointed a slim finger to a mottled green square slightly southwest of their current position. "Those green squares mean hedge mazes. Look at how close that one is!"

"We can walk right over there," Jessie said.

"Yeah, except it's smack in the middle of one of _the_ most annoying biomes in the Twilight Forest," Wren said. "The dense forest is really...well, dense. Lots of underbrush and vines and congested tree cover. We'll tire ourselves out trying to force our way through it."

"What if we went around it, rather than through?" Ivor suggested. He traced the line of a river girding the patch of dense forest with his finger. "If we followed the perimeter of the river to a more strategic point, we could ford it at a point where the swatch of land is at its thinnest between the river and the hedge maze. That would minimize the struggle."

"That's...actually a really good idea," Wren said. "I say we go for it."

The group turned themselves around to go southwest, with Sam and Wren leading the way. Wren was in charge of monitoring the map while Sam held out one of the firefly jars for light. Departing the clearing, they returned to the main of the forest. Overhead, the sky was still the same starry blue it had been before, despite the down time Jessie and her friends had taken. It wasn't a far walk to find the dense forest and the hedge maze according to the map, but the dreaminess of the Twilight Forest made it seem longer than it really was. Time was wonky there. It could make a long time seem short and a few minutes feel like an eternity.

Eventually, after making a slight curve in their path, the travelers came to a thin stream cutting across their path. Its current was gentle as the creek turned a smooth bend and snaked out of sight. A congestion of trees and shrubbery stood beyond it. The dense forest. The starlight squeezed its way through the tangled vegetation, so luckily they wouldn't be walking in the dark.

"I'll ford it first," Wren offered. No-one protested.

She brushed her brown hair off her shoulders and calmly waded into the stream. The water came up to her waist. It was probably cold water, but Wren didn't seem fazed by it. She glided through the stream, strong enough to resist the current, and then stepped out onto the opposite bank.

"See, it's none too hard, sissies," she said once she was on the other side. "Now come along."

Jessie shrugged and followed after. As soon as she waded into the water, a chill seeped through her metal armor. Jessie gritted her teeth, surprised by the cold, and floundered over to the other riverbank.

She scrambled out onto the gritty dirt. Her teeth were chattering, but she could still hear Wren chuckling at her.

"A bit cold for you, sweetheart?" the woman asked. "That's some dandy armor you have there, but the Lord help you if you go somewhere cold. All the heat gets conducted out."

"Thanks for the forewarning," Jessie said blandly. She turned to check if the others were coming. She'd be disappointed if they weren't. They'd been through a lot worse than cold river water. Lukas had been the third one to cross, followed by Sam, Petra, and finally Ivor. The party of six re-congregated on the shore of the Dense Woods.

"This isn't gonna be fun," Petra commented as she stared at the huge thickets growing over the ground. Grass was hardly visible under them. The group had to climb over the bushes, dodge curling briers, and avoid getting tangled up in vines. Every so often, Jessie heard an "Ouch!" behind her when a thorny branch caught someone on the cheek or wrist. Lukas slipped on a boulder and landed in a mud pit; Jessie had to rescue him. Petra fell into a ditch when she wasn't watching where she was going, but she managed to climb back out on her own.

Eventually the forest thinned out. It had done so to make room for the hedge maze. Its entrance stood several meters away, flanked by pumpkins and a pair of those magic tall trees. The walls stretched out more than a dozen meters on either side, and they were clusters of leaves so thick that it was impossible to see through them.

"Here it is," Wren said as they all came up to the entrance. "Looks like fun, don't it?"

Jessie rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah...fun."

"But what if we get lost?" Lukas fretted. "We should make a breadcrumbs trail. Or...does anyone have any thread?"

"We're traveling as a group. If we stay together, no-one should get lost."

The group filed inside. Immediately, they realized that the maze corridors were far too narrow for their entire party of six.

"We can't fit everyone into one hallway at the same time," Jessie said. "We should split up."

"That's a bad idea," Lukas replied. "I see it all the time in stories. Every time the group splits up, bad stuff happens."

"What's the worst that could happen in an oversized bonsai garden?" Petra retorted.

"Try spawn cages full of hostile wolves and bush spiders," Wren said curtly. "The wolves in this maze are not the friendly doggies you know from back home. Don't give them the benefit of the doubt. If you don't want to be dog food, stab first and ask questions later." She let the warning hang in the misty air.

"So are we splitting up or not?" Ivor asked.

"We can't," Wren said, shaking her head. "It's too dangerous for scrubs like you to be going alone in here. We'll just have to walk single file."

So they did. Confronted with a choice of three corridors when the path forked, they went down the central aisle. There was only two meters of space between the hedge walls. The corridors turned at hard angles, often at a left-or-right fork. Sometimes their paths crossed with a bighorn sheep or deer, which only further clogged the aisles. It wasn't until several minutes later until Sam and Wren started to turn a bend, only to quickly draw back and motion for the others to stay put.

"Why? What do you see?" Lukas asked.

Sam peered around the corner. "It's an open spot. I can see pumpkins and treasure chests…"

"Yay! Treasure!" Ivor gloated.

"...And a monster spawner."

"Oh."

"It's just the hedge spiders," Wren said, pulling a stone sword out of her Pocket. "Shouldn't be too bad if there are six of us to take them on. On three we go. Ready?"

The others nodded hesitantly. "Okay."

"One, two, three." Wren whipped around the corner and Jessie was none too far behind. The others ran after, drawing their weapons.

Immediately the spawn cage belched out a puff of smoke and summoned a swarm of ten spiders. They were green, slightly smaller than normal spiders, and had yellow rune markings on their bodies. They clacked their chelicerae and hissed at the travelers.

"Come get some, ya pests!" Wren pointed her sword.

One of the spiders pounced at her. She jammed her sword through its thorax, flung it to the ground, and finished it with another stab through its thorax. It poofed away, leaving a spider eye and a piece of string.

Petra skewered a spider on her golden blade as it leapt at her, then stabbed it down and impaled a second. The dead spiders disintegrated to dust, leaving three pieces of string twined around the blade.

Ivor cautiously chopped an incoming varmint with his stone sword, not confident about his fighting ability. Regardless, he was able to destroy the spider with three slices from his weapon. Once he'd killed it, he threw open one of the treasure chests and started picking through it. He removed a pickaxe and a sword before snapping it shut again.

Jessie heard an alarmed yelp behind her as she was about to make the finishing blow on one of the spiders. She turned to see Lukas on the ground with three spiders crawling on top of him.

"Jessie! Help!"

"Oh, no!" she gasped. "Hang on, Lukas!" She stabbed the bug she'd been fighting, killing it, and then ran over to rescue him. One of the spiders jumped at Jessie, but she deflected it with a sword swipe. Then she swatted the other two off of Lukas with a sweep. Lukas quickly stood up and armed his iron sword. The monsters were injured, but not yet dead. They pounced again, but this time both Jessie and Lukas were ready. Jessie dealt a punishing blow on one while Lukas hacked up the other two. The slaughtered spiders poofed away, leaving several strands of string on the grass. Lukas shrugged and scooped them up.

"Awesome moves there, Jessie," he said. "Thanks for saving me."

Their relief was short-lived, though. The spawn cage spat out more smoke and spawned a second round of spiders. They hissed ferociously, even more eager to attack.

"Someone break that spawn cage," Jessie shouted as the group readied for another wave of googlies to destroy. Ivor took the instruction, waiting until the spiders were distracted with fighting to break past their line and get to the spawner. He whipped out the pickaxe he'd found in the treasure chest and slammed its point into the spawn cage. The cage cracked, so he struck it again. While the others fought to finish off the spiders, Ivor focused on breaking the spawner before it could spit out a third wave of monsters.

Finally, the block shattered and its smoke fizzled away. Ivor sighed in relief and looked around to check that no more spiders had spawned. The only ones that were left were the ones his friends were fighting, and they had those varmints almost completely taken care of. Good.

"Nice job, everyone," Jessie complimented as soon as the last spider was slain and its string collected. "Now we can check out the treasure."

No-one wasted any time acting on that instruction. Jessie attacked one of the chests herself. In it, she found a saddle, three red apples, two firefly jars, and a black feather. The other stuff was interesting but it probably wouldn't come in handy during the adventure, so she only took the apples.

"Hey, Jessie, check this thing out." Petra walked up and showed Jessie her find: a sword made out of that mottled green-and-brown metal Jessie had found in the supply room. "Do you know what kind of metal this is? I've never seen anything like it."

"Ironwood." Wren was suddenly standing next to the girls, watching them.

"Aaugh!" they both yelped, startled.

"That's an ironwood sword," Wren repeated. "Stronger than iron and enchanted by default. Good find. Wanna keep it or give it to someone else?"

"Um…" Jessie looked down at the sword, then back up at Wren. "You can have it, I guess. I already have a diamond sword and it's working just fine."

"Thanks." Wren took the weapon and stowed it away in her Pocket.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Sam whined. "How come you get to have it? I don't have a sword."

"Yes, you do, you liar," Wren said. "You were using one to fight the spiders."

Sam whimpered and showed her half of a stone sword. The broken end lay on the grass a few meters away.

"...Oh. Um...did anyone find any extras?" Wren looked around at the group.

"Uh-uh," said Lukas. "I only found sticks, feathers, and a bow."

"Nope, just some bread and a firefly jar," Petra said.

"I only wanted the apples," Jessie admitted.

To their surprise, Ivor spoke up. "Actually, I did find another sword." He drew an ironwood blade from his Pocket.

"Can I have it? Please?" Sam begged.

Ivor complied and handed him the weapon. Sam eagerly took it and slid it into his Pocket.

"I found some armor, too." Wren slipped on an iron chestplate, then tossed a pair of leggings to Sam. "I know it's not much, but it's better than nothing."

"What about those four?" Sam nodded at Jessie and her friends as he hopped up and down, pulling on the leggings.

"They've already got armor, ya silly," she replied. "Full sets of it, too. Lucky. Say, what kind of armor is that?"

"Oh. It's Star Shield." Jessie patted one of the shoulder pads. "Nothing in the universe can break through it! ...Except coldness."

"Mine is...um...it doesn't have a name, but I used to think it was silver," Lukas said. "But apparently, it's actually zirconium."

"Zirconium is one of the toughest metals you'll ever come across!" Ivor boasted.

"Shh," Wren hissed suddenly. Her brow furrowed and she glanced around furtively.

Ivor scoffed. "Look, I can understand if you're jealous, but that doesn't give you an excuse to be ru—"

"Bother that! I said shhh!"

"Why? What is it?"

"Everybody be quiet. I think I hear something."

Everyone stopped chattering and listened. They only sound was the wind in the trees above. But then they heard it: a monstrous howl, and a series of feral growls. They sounded from inside the hedgemaze itself.

"Wolves," Wren gulped. "Monster wolves. They know we're here."

"How?"

"They can hear us...and smell us." Her tone became frantic. "Come on. We need to get out of here before they find us."

"Are you sure we can't handle them?" Jessie got her sword back out again.

"These wolves are stronger than you think, Jessie." Wren shook her head. "We couldn't take on a whole pack of them."

"Especially if they sneak up and ambush us," Sam added. "Let's go."

"Which way was they way we came?"

The growls were louder now. The wolves were closer.

"Just pick somewhere," Petra said. "We need to get out of here before the wolves catch us."

"Uh...Ah…" Wren looked around; there were two entrances to the 'treasure room,' and she couldn't remember which one was the way they had come. "Go left!"

The group threw themselves at the left entrance, yelling in panic. As soon as they did that, three wolves shot through the right entrance. They were bigger than normal wolves, with bloody red eyes and dirty fur. Some of them foamed at the mouth.

Sam and Lukas were the first ones out, followed by Petra and Wren. Jessie and Ivor were stuck at the rear of the group. Jessie yelped in pain as one of the wolves caught up to her and bit her on the arm, right through a chink in her armor. It got her by her sword arm, too, so she had no way of beating it off.

"Get away from her!" Ivor ran over and bashed the wolf upside the head with his stone sword. While it was stunned from the blow, he pulled Jessie away from the beast and hurried her out of the room.

"Are you all right?" he asked as they ran, dodging around corners as they struggled to keep up with the others.

"It hurts," Jessie rubbed the bitten spot. "But wow, you just saved me back there. You usually don't pull stunts like that."

"Bah," Ivor scoffed.

"Why, Ivor, you do care about your kids," Jessie teased.

"What do you mean, 'my kids?'" he grumped. "And slow down. I have bad knees. And about the bite, you're just lucky you weren't bitten by one of the wolves with the foamy mouths."

"Why?"

"Those are the rabid wolves. No matter how harmless an animal looks, if it has a foamy mouth, it has rabies. And if it has rabies, it's dangerous."

Jessie gulped, now realizing how close of a call this was. Wren hadn't been jesting when she said not to second-guess the wolves. Stab first and ask questions later. Jessie could still hear howls and snarls at random points in the maze. Occasionally hedge spiders crawled over the walls and jumped at her friends, but they batted them away with their swords. There wasn't any time to stop at a treasure room. The hedge walls were covered in thorns at the top, preventing the travelers from crawling over them for an easier escape.

At long last, they stumbled out of the main entrance to the hedge maze. The group of six paused and looked back at the maze dubiously. They could still hear barking and snarling.

"Run," they all said in unison, and kept running away from the maze. When they'd gotten reasonably far away, enough so that the wolves wouldn't follow them any more. Sam and Wren directed them toward the distant Lich tower. It was maybe a hundred meters away. Stopping several times to catch their breath (the flight from the maze had taken a lot out of them), they made a final charge toward it. When the fog finally dissipated and the details of the tower came into view, they slowed down their dash…

...and ran right into a force-field.

"Oomph!" they grunted as they collided with a field of yellow squares, which brusquely shoved them back. The motley crew of six fell on their backs and glanced up at the floating yellow squares in disbelief.

"What the...How come it won't let us in?" Petra complained.

Jessie was frustrated, too. "Yeah, what gives?"

"Hang on a minute." Sam pulled the map out of his Pocket. "Oh, crud."

"What? What's the problem?" Ivor asked.

Sam facepalmed. "The progression system. There's a progression system. We can't fight the Lich yet. There's another beastie we have to beat first."

"What would that be?" Lukas had his journal out, most likely poised to make a note about the Twilight Forest's 'progression system.'

Wren studied the map. "The naga. We have to fight the naga."

"The what?"

Wren bit her bottom lip. "Are you afraid of snakes?"

"...Why?"

"Because a naga is the queen mother of snakes. And we're going right into its lair."

 **A/N: Well, this seems like it's going to be a favorite arc. :)**

 **Dear readers, I'd like your opinion on something I'm been pondering:**

 **How would you feel if I changed my pen name to "TealEmpress?" You could call me Teal for short! Let me know what you think in your review.**


	17. So Much Naga-tivity

**A/N: So what's the story behind the wait for this chappie? The typical writer's block and...I needed a break! I kicked out four chapters of Portal Party in January and one of them was almost six thousand words long! Whew! You see, children, this is why I don't have a social life...**

 **Anyway, I also wanted to drop a little mid-story thank you to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following. :) You guys are great and I'm so happy to be part of our community. I love our smol MCSM fandom full of awesome fan artists, theorists, writers, tumblrinas, music video compilers, wikians, and more.**

 **...I'd better stop. I'm getting mawkish. :S Now for the chapter.**

"Snakes? Oh, no…" Jessie hadn't seen a snake in real life before. They lived in swampy areas, not at all close to the peaceful plains and woodlands near her home. She had heard they were dangerous, though, and that some of them were even venomous. The way they slithered along in the grass as if they were liquid was gross. And now they were going to fight a gigantic version of one?

"So you _are_ afraid of snakes." Wren slid her stone sword back into its holster.

"I've never actually seen one before. Only pictures in books. They still looked scary, though."

"Okay, I don't really blame you. The naga is one whopper of a snake. We need to be properly prepared. We'll need lots and lots of arrows. Who here has a bow and arrows?"

Lukas took out his bow and lifted it above his head so Wren could see, as did Sam. Sam also waved around a handful of arrows.

"Good," she said. "Sam, give me your map. Let's find the beast's lair."

He shrugged and handed Wren the rolled-up piece of parchment. She unraveled it and examined the topography. A small distance north of the hedgemaze square, there was a small drawing of a snake's head. It had a mean expression, with beady red eyes and big teeth.

"That's the naga, right?" Jessie, watching over Wren's shoulder, pointed at the picture.

"Yep. It's a good thing the first parts of the progression system are pretty close together. Say, do you have any charcoal on hand?"

"No, why?"

"Rats. I wanted to mark off the hedgemaze so Sam and I don't wander back here later, thinking that it's still ripe for looting."

"Well, we only partially looted it. Then the wolves found us."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Wren said. "He and I can come back later, when we have better equipment, and raid the rest of the place."

"Say, Wren, there's a question I've been meaning to ask you." Jessie drew back and tapped her chin.

"Oh, there is, huh?" Wren rolled up the map and turned to Jessie, perking an eyebrow. "Usually when someone says that, they're about to drop a really juicy one. Whatcha wanna know, kid?"

"Um…Hang on a second." Jessie walked a few paces away and motioned for Wren and Wren only to follow her. "I don't want the others to eavesdrop."

"Ooh boy," Wren chuckled. "I was right. This is gonna be juicy!"

"What's the story between you and Sam?" Jessie inquired, leaning in. "Are you and him, y'know, in love? Lovers?"

Wren looked appalled. "Ew! No! Why would you say something like that?"

"I just...I…"

"He's my brother, you dweeb!"

Jessie's cheeks flushed a hot, steamy red. "Oops…"

"Geez," Wren muttered, storming away. "Why is romance always people's first thought when they see a guy and girl who hang out together?"

"Well, that was not well handled, Jess," Jessie scolded herself as she followed Wren back to the group.

"Are we ready to leave, then, or not?" Ivor complained. "I'm not getting any younger standing around here."

"Sheesh," Sam said. "Impatient. Wren says that the naga lair is a little ways north of here. We have some walking ahead of us."

Putting Wren in charge of the map, the party turned north and started their trek. The Lich Tower continued to loom in the background, holding promise and menace at the same time. As they walked, Jessie passed the time by imagining what the Lich might look like. Wren had said that the Lich was an undead wizard. The mention of wizards reminded Jessie of Emrys, the magician that she and her friends had met while time-traveling with Clockwürk. She pictured the Lich as a zombified Emrys, wearing a tattered robe and a mystical amulet. Trying to put a face on the term "Lich" then caused her to launch off on a flight of fancy wherein she imagined herself swishing her mighty enchanted sword around to slay the monster and collect the spoils. She'd defeat magic with magic! Yeah! She'd stand on top of the corpse and hold the diamond up high in the air for the sunlight to catch at just the right angle, while her friends looked on in awe and cheered her name—

"Jessie!"

Except that voice had been real. It pulled Jessie out of her daydream.

"Huh?" she asked.

Lukas had said it. "Jessie, look out!"

Jessie "looked out" too late. Some kind of projectile resembling seeds whipped through the air at her and struck her in the face. The blow was so abrupt that it knocked her to the ground. And whatever the little missiles had been, they were poisonous. The toxin stung as it flowed through her bloodstream.

"Ow!" she cried. "What was that?"

Lukas grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her to safety behind a tree, where the others had taken cover. The poison effects were short-lived; the venom quickly worked its way through her system and then abated.

"What was that?" she repeated, then glanced around the tree to see what had thrown the seeds at her. A small cobbled-stone hut with a brick chimney and wooden roof stood two stone-throws away. Animated skeletons dressed in leafy vines milled about it, toting golden ploughs. The gang must have walked too close to the hut and angered the...whatever kind of skeleton those things were.

"Did those guys throw the seeds at me?" Jessie asked.

"Well, they threw the killer seeds at all of us, actually," Lukas corrected. "Obviously, they're not friendly critters. They came from inside the hut. We'll have to be more careful around those houses from now on."

The gang cut a wide circle around the skeleton-infested hut before continuing at their regular pace. Nobody seemed seriously hurt by the surprise attack, thankfully. Jessie checked over her shoulder a couple of times to make sure that the forest skeletons hadn't followed them. As far as she could tell, none had. That was a relief.

Sam had said that it was only a "small ways" to the naga lair, but a small distance on a map and a small distance in real life are two very different lengths, similar to the disparity between "mom minutes" and real minutes. Petra kept glancing up at the placid, starry sky and muttering complaints about time being all wonky in the Twilight Forest and how she could walk for ten hours and it would still feel like she had barely gone a mile. Ivor told her to stop complaining.

After who knows how long, the familiar rhythm of sparkly trees, swelling hills, and hanging lanterns changed in favor of something new. The canopy trees broke off and the little oaks took over, sporadically dotting the plains ahead. The grass underfoot was dry and yellowish, like savannah grass. In fact, this was a savannah; it was simply one with a Twilight Forest flavor. The deer and sheep hung back in the regular forest, but the boars liked it here. The brown pigs wallowed in mud pits scattered over the plains.

Jessie looked up and saw a lovely sight. Without the heavy tree cover, the sky was far more visible...and far more beautiful. Instead of a plain blue throughout as in the forest, the sky here shimmered with bands of purple, red, orange, and salmon pink. They swirled into the sky like watercolor brushstrokes.

"Wow…" Lukas gasped, staring in awe at the sight. "Man, I wish I had a set of paints with me right now." But he didn't have a set of paints, so instead, he flipped to a clean page in his journal and started jotting down the most picturesque description of the skyscape as he could manage. He wanted to capture every last detail.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Ivor said as he walked past Jessie and Lukas. "But we can't stare at it forever. We have a mission to do."

"Right, right." They followed after him.

After walking a short while longer, they finally came to their destination. A short stone wall, the boundary of the naga's lair, frowned at them as they approached. It was built of solid slabs of stone, some of which were carved with images of glittering apples and coiled snakes smiling malevolently. At one end of the carving mural was a depiction of a man and woman hiding behind a bush and looking ashamed of themselves.

"I'm getting some 'fall of man' vibes from this mural," Lukas commented.

"How are we going to get over this wall?" Petra asked. "It's too high to jump over."

"We could dig up some dirt and build a nerd pole to scale the wall," Ivor suggested.

"No, we won't have to do that. Look, we could climb those vines," Wren observed. She pointed at a tangle of thick vines creeping over and down the side of the wall. It was a thick net, enough to support the weight of a person.

"Alrighty, then. This should be a snap." Jessie looped the ends of the vines around her ankles for a foothold and started climbing.

"Oh, don't say that," Ivor warned, as he and the others likewise grabbed onto the vines. "You wouldn't want those vines to be a literal snap."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jessie asked. Then she got the answer when she put her foot in the wrong place and snapped one of the weaker vines, almost falling off. She gasped and scrambled to get a better foothold.

"I warned you!"

Eventually the six adventurers reached the top and crawled onto the wall cap. They sat on it, arranged into a nice line, to get a good look at the naga's lair. When Wren had mentioned that the snake had a "lair," Jessie was picturing a dark cave with sharp stalactites and dripping ooze. Instead, the lair was a wide, square, and perfectly flat field of stony soil. Stonebrick pillars, topped with stone slabs, stood sentry in random points on the field. Besides a couple of clusters of random sheep and deer standing around idly, there was nothing else of interest in the lair. No treasure chests. No tiny dungeons or mob cages. It was a hard-edge, no-nonsense boss room.

"Well, here's the lair, but where's the naga?" Jessie squinted and scanned the plane of stone and grass for signs of a snake.

They were answered by a soft, deep rumble. It was the sound of the naga as it slithered across the stony ground. It slid along like a train of minecarts, weaving smoothly around the stone pillars. The huge snake was not aware of the adventurers' presence yet, but it wouldn't be ignorant for long. As it slithered, the naga rolled over the skeletons of deer and sheep that it had eaten, crushing them to bonemeal under its bulk.

The naga had a long, tube-shaped body sheathed in leaf-green scales, some of which shone iridescent in the starlight. The scales on its underbelly were yellow. The snake had a flat face with an upturned snout and wide, reddish-pink eyes. Its teeth stuck out of its scaly lips at odd angles. Occasionally it flicked out its forked tongue, sniffing the air and ground. It didn't seem to be aware of the adventurers about to pounce on its lair, but it wouldn't stay that way for long.

"My stars!" Ivor shouted. "It's hideous!"

"Shush!" Petra hissed at him. "Do you want that monster to hear us and come after us?"

"Let him be, Petra," Sam said. "He can shout all he wants. Snakes are deaf."

"Wait, what? They are?"

"Yeah. No ears, y'know. They make up for it with sight, smell, and feeling."

"Should we sneak up on it?" Lukas asked.

"Um…" Sam rubbed his chin, thinking of a battle tactic. "I don't think we can. Stealth can be slow, and the naga is pretty darn fast. You see how he's shooting along like that. Nah, we might want to Leeroy Jenkins this one."

"Not so fast," Wren said. "Even if we're charging the naga, we need a plan. Rushing in without any kind of tactic is gonna get us killed."

"Well, I'm not good at planning strategies," Sam whined.

"Oh, I'm very aware of that, Sam," Wren replied. "I remember the kobold and goblin incident all too well."

"Hey, you promised that we wouldn't talk about that one anymore."

"Would you just shut up already? Now's not the time to gab."

"I've got an idea!" Petra piped up. "What if we had the people with bows climb the pillars and shoot the naga from above while the fast runners stay on the ground and fight it with swords?"

Wren considered it, then nodded. "Sounds good. Who's got a bow?"

Lukas, Ivor, and Sam held their bows up in the air.

"And who's got a sword? Besides me?" Wren raised her ironwood blade to the sky. Jessie and Petra raised their weapons as well.

"I'm gonna take that thing's teeth as trophies!" Petra boasted.

"Come on! We've a big fat snake to fight!" Wren grabbed a vine, vaulted over the wall, and swung down safely.

"Oh, that's cool," Jessie said, before grabbing another vine and trying the maneuver herself. She wasn't as graceful as Wren—the vine whisked back and she banged her shin on the wall—but she did make it down safely. At least a bunch of the other guys did the same thing when they made their way down, so Jessie didn't feel like a total klutz.

The naga roared past nearby, but still didn't notice the invaders. They had to take advantage of that while they could. Sam, Lukas, and Ivor each ran for a pillar and started to climb the vines dangling down from the tops (what was with all those vines?) Once they all had their little roosts, they slipped handfuls of arrows out of their Pockets and got their bows ready. The girls ran for cover, not wanting to be spotted in the open.

The next time the snake came slithering around again, Sam made the first shot, He sent two arrows whizzing at the naga. They both stuck in the creature's scales, right behind its neck. The naga snarled and flailed its body around in pain for a second before whipping around in its attempt to figure out who just shot it. It turned around so sharply that the tip of its tail clipped the pillar behind which Jessie was hiding. The blow broke off a large chunk of stone and sent it flying.

"Destructive," Jessie remarked.

When the snake turned itself around, Petra managed to cut a slash down its side. It wasn't a deadly wound, but it was enough to do some damage. The snake hissed and writhed.

"Ha!" Petra shouted triumphantly.

But then, against all logic, the end of the snake's tail abruptly blew off, crashed into one of the pillars, and exploded, leaving the adventurers gawking. Had Jessie not seen that happen before her very eyes, she'd never have believed it.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Ivor shouted to Wren.

"Might be both!" she responded.

Lukas unloaded a series of arrows at the monster. Most of them stuck it in the sides, but he did shoot a lucky arrow into the side of its head. The snake cranked open its slimy, toothy mouth and let out a screeching hiss.

Once again, it blasted off the end of its tail (which exploded) and charged toward the perceived source of the pain. It was going to ram the pillar with its head. The disoriented snake misjudged its trajectory a little and only caught the pillar with a glancing blow. The assault did, however, crack the stone column and make it shiver from the force.

Lukas grabbed the edges of his perch on top, hoping that he wouldn't get thrown off. "Whoa!"

Wren ran at the naga with her sword at the ready, but the naga caught sight of her advance and whipped around to attack. Wren dove to the side to avoid a head-on collision, but still caught a lateral blow that knocked her to the ground. Ouch. She'd get some bruises from that.

"Arrows! We need more arrows!" she shouted from the ground. "Oh, oww…"

Sam, Lukas, and Ivor continued to fire. Well, Ivor tried, but he didn't have very good aim. Most of his shots ended up stuck in the dirt and not the naga's hide.

Jessie ran around the battlefield, dodging whenever the snake discarded a piece of tail (what was up with that?) and stabbing with her sword whenever she got the opportunity. She would wait until the split second when the naga was distracted by its pain to run up to it and make a lunge at it with her weapon. With the game stacked up as six against one, the naga faced a relentless barrage of attacks. Jessie and her team were actually gaining the upper hand.

Or so she thought, until Petra caught an unlucky blow from the naga as it swept past. The impact knocked her to the ground. While she was down, the snake curled around to make another assault. It shot straight at her, snapping its jaws. It was either going to try either chomping her with its teeth or simply flattening her under its weight.

Jessie yelled something in panic. She was too far away to run over and help Petra. So was Wren. Sam shot a well-timed arrow, though, and caught the beast right on the side of the head with an arrow. The shot was enough to distract the the naga and pull it off-course. Petra scrambled back to her feet and took cover as the naga ripped past again. It crashed headfirst into a tower (one without a boy at the top, thank goodness) which crumbled and collapsed, raining bits of stone on its head.

The team hoped that the clumsy crash into the tower would injure the snake, but instead, it just shook off the dust and kept slithering. Darn it! Still, the naga was pretty badly beaten up by this point. It had shed at least half of its segments, but this had the unintended consequence that it moved even faster than before, now that it lacked the weight to slow it down.

"We need to finish this beast already!" Jessie shouted.

"One more arrow should do it!" Wren added. "Someone has to make the last shot."

"On it." Sam loaded up his bow and took aim. He pointed the arrow tip at the naga's head, then drew back the string. However, just before he could release it, the string broke in half. The bow snapped back to a straight piece of wood, almost smacking Sam in the face.

"Uh-oh," he said, gawking at it. "That was my only bow…"

"It is all right," Ivor yelled to him. "I'll fire, then." Ivor nocked an arrow on his bow and directed it at the naga. Jessie watched anxiously, then cringed when the arrow flopped off of the bowstring and fell to the ground harmlessly.

"Aw, no…" she groaned. Why did Ivor have to be such a bad shot?

Ivor attempted to sling another arrow, but he pulled the string back too aggressively. It snapped and slipped off of the bow. Ivor flung the useless piece of wood away and said some things that couldn't be printed here.

"Oh, this is bad," Jessie said, taking cover as the naga roared past. By this point, it moved too quickly to land a strike with a sword. "LUKAS!"

Lukas watched the battlefield below uneasily. "Yeah?"

"Make the last shot! Make it beautiful! You're our last chance!"

"But no pressure or anything," Petra said sarcastically. She yelped and dodged the side when the naga plowed through a nearby (unoccupied) pillar, sending stone chunks flying.

"Um...Ah...Okay!" Lukas nocked an arrow on the bow. "Oh, please, make it…"

The naga caught sight of Lukas aiming at it. It roared and spun around, shooting towards his pillar. This time, it had aimed well. It would hit the pillar head-on and knock it down.

Lukas narrowed his blue eyes and pointed the arrow tip at the incoming snake's face. He breathed out, wished for luck, and released the bowstring. The others watched nervously, having nothing else they could do but pray he'd make the shot.

The arrow arced gracefully, then found its mark! It embedded itself right between the naga's eyes. The snake halted and went cross-eyed for a second. Then it shrank back and hissed, cranking open its mouth and flicking its tongue. It arched its neck and snapped its jaws before slamming its head on the ground again and collapsing. It dissolved into smoke, leaving behind a pile of items.

"Wow!" Jessie exclaimed. "Nice shot, Lukas!"

"Aw, thanks." He climbed down the vines to join his friends on the ground. The others thumbed through the heap of spoils, wondering what the monster had all dropped.

"I told you, I wanted its head on my mantle." Petra picked up a trophy: a miniature version of the Naga's head. She happily stuffed it in her Pocket.

Sam and Wren were more interested in a sheet of green iridescent scales that the naga had dropped. Sam picked it up and examined it in the light.

"Looks like a mantle or poncho made out of naga scales," he said.

"Wait a second." Wren pulled out the map. "It says here that in order to break the forcefield around the Lich tower, we need the naga scales."

"...Oh, I see!" Jessie said. "You wear it like armor."

"I do?" Sam flipped it over and looked for a neck hole. Finding one, he slipped on the scale-mail. It hung around his shoulders and over his back like a cape.

"Well, now that we've killed the naga and we got its scales, is it time to fight the Lich?" Petra inquired. "Or do we need to off any other beasties first?"

"Uhm…" Wren looked at the map again. "Nope. From what I'm getting from this map, we can go straight on to the Lich now."

"Cool."

"Yeah, let's just hope we're ready."


	18. The One Tower

**A/N: Hiya, guys! Sorry about the wait again. I just don't want to overdo it with updating Portal Party. Real-life stuff has to come first. Also, I'm working on a new fic for the Once Upon a Time archive; putting that together has been taking up a fair share of time as well. Thanks for your patience.**

 **Additional note: In this chapter, Sam will tell Jessie the backstory of the Twilight Forest. This is not official lore. It is just a story I made up to make seeking out and killing the boss creatures seem less unprovoked.**

Jessie and company, with Wren leading the way as usual, walked away from the naga lair in silence. Lukas wrote about the fight with the giant snake in his journal. Sam fiddled with the naga-scale armor until his sister told him to knock it off. No-one said much of anything. Jessie commented that she would miss the gorgeous savannah sky, and Lukas identified the black-and-white striped horses wandering the fields as "zebras." The gang was on their way to exit the Twilight savannah and re-enter the forest. This was the last thrust of their quest to obtain a diamond.

Ivor was the first one to say something. "So, here we are. The final part of our journey."

"Yep," Sam agreed. "Do you think we're ready to take on the Lich?"

Petra twirled her sword. "I'd say so."

"What's fighting the Lich like?" Jessie inquired.

"Do you think that, what with the Lich being undead, we could harm him with a potion of healing?" Ivor rummaged around in his Pocket, looking for a bottle of the potion in question. But he didn't have one.

Wren shrugged. "I don't know. We've never fought him before. But no monster is invincible. One way or another, we'll find a way to destroy him."

The group walked in silence after that. Savannah melted away and became forest once more. They could smell incense and cinnamon in the air again. Following the map, they kept on the straightest course to the Lich's tower they could manage. Sometimes, however, they had to veer to dodge druid huts or huge hills. The former was too dangerous and the latter was too troublesome.

At one point, the group walked through a portion of the forest where the tree cover wasn't so thick. Jessie glanced up to see that a layer of swollen gray clouds had rolled over the sky, blocking out the stars. A few raindrops fell on her face and arms.

She cringed. "Great."

Because Wren insisted on following the designated route as faithfully as possible, the gang continued to walk through the thin patch of forest as rain poured from the clouds. They could have taken shelter under a more substantial canopy nearby, but _no_.

Jessie swept a wet clump of hair out of her face. "Well, this isn't pleasant."

"Neither will the Lich fight be," Wren retorted over her shoulder, happily ignoring the rain.

Wren's stubbornness was getting on Jessie's nerves, so she fell back a few steps to talk to Sam instead.

"Are there more monsters beside the Lich?" Jessie asked.

"Yes. The Lich is actually one of the easier bosses," Sam explained. "Wren and I looked at the map...there are actually seven others for my sis and I to fight after we smoosh the Lich and you guys can go home."

"Seven?! What are they?" Jessie pressed, curiosity piqued.

"The Minoshroom, the Hydra, the Knight Phantoms, the Ur-Ghast, the Alpha Yeti, and, finally, the Snow Queen."

"Oh, geez." Jessie was glad that she wouldn't have to face any of those monsters. If the naga was supposed to be the _easiest_ boss, she didn't even want to think about how bad the Snow Queen battle would be.

"Hopefully Wren and I will be powered up enough by then to face the baddies."

"What's the point of fighting these monsters, anyway?" Jessies questioned. "They don't come out of their lairs and attack people."

"Don't feel sympathy for these beasts," Sam said harshly. "They are creatures of evil magic. My sister and I are just starting to understand the backstory of the Twilight Forest, but based on what we've gathered so far, it's a doozy. When exploring old houses and fighting kobolds, we've found bits of lore books. The books say that the Twilight Forest didn't always have monsters."

"Ah, backstory," Jessie commented.

"And there used to be more people, too. There was a fight between real magicians, who had innate powers, and evil magicians, thieves who took powers that didn't belong to them. The real magicians had a tradition that they could not use their powers to harm, so they were overpowered by the evildoers who had no such scruples. The bad magicians mutated common creatures into monsters to defeat the real magicians and banish them from the Twilight Forest. A simple snake was turned into the naga. The Lich was raised from a simple corpse. So on and so forth. The monsters outlived the legacy of the evil magicians, but they still cast an air of fear and hate over the whole forest to this day."

Jessie blinked. "Wow. Your adventuring is more noble than I thought it was. Sorry for doubting you."

"Of course, it could always be a case of unreliable narrator," Sam said with a shrug.

"Once you beat all the monsters in the Twilight Forest, where will you go? Are you going to stay here?"

"I think so. This is a very nice place. It's so pretty and magical and full of surprises that any other world would probably be really boring. Besides, if we leave, then Wren and I have to go through the travail of setting up a new life in a new world. And if we change our minds, there's no way to get back here."

"I can respect that. This place is home to you and your sister. My friends and I just want to get home, too."

"What is your home?"

"Well, I don't know if it really has a name or not, but we call it the Treehouse Dimension. It's sorta like the Twilight Forest in some places, because it has forests and savannahs, but it's not as...magical, I guess. There aren't any giant monsters or evil wizards prowling there."

"Sounds like a lovely place. I hope you can make it back okay."

"Thanks, Sam."

By this time, they could see the tower in the distance. With Wren goading everyone to keep trucking, they marched through creeks, under overhangs, and even through a big hollow log to reach it.

Finally, the tree canopy was pierced by a thick pillar of stone. The Lich's tower rose, gray and dour, into the rainy sky. It started as solid and square at its base, but near its top, it branched into annex rooms protruding from the sides. A roof of birch planks capped the structure. Moss, mold, and mushrooms crept across the stone bricks.

"Look at the size of that tower!" Petra mused. "Say what you want about him, but the Lich has some seriously sweet digs."

Lukas wrinkled his nose at the structure. "Sure, but it's creepy."

"It's creepy _how cool it is!_ "

Listening to them, Ivor just facepalmed and sighed.

Sam elbowed his way to the front of the group, flaunting his naga-scale armor. "I'll break the forcefield." He swaggered forward, passing through the field of floating yellow squares with ease. The forcefield dissolved as Sam strode ahead. He waved his arms and wiggled a little dance as he did it, as if he himself was dispelling the magic.

"Ha-cha-cha-cha!" he chirped.

"Sam, knock that off!" Wren said. "You look like a wacky Cleopatra."

"Oh, let him live his little wizard fantasy," Ivor admonished.

Sam made whooshing sound effects as the yellow squares disappeared. Once they were all gone, everyone else could approach the entrance to the tower. The party of six congregated around the double doors. No locks or chains barred entry, which only made it more suspicious.

"Be on guard," Wren warned as she took hold of the door handle. "No rushing in or running around all willy-nilly. There could be traps all over the place."

With the advisory hanging in the air, Wren threw the doors open and the team squeezed inside. No traps befell them immediately, but they were faced with a wall of cacti. They stood on a sand pit, with the spiky plants blocking the door on the other side of the room. What's more, there was only one torch on the wall, so the whole room was poorly lit. Lukas brought out a torch and lit it so they wouldn't be stumbling around in the dark.

"Boy, isn't this just the most inviting foyer you've ever seen?" Wren snarked.

Jessie bit her lip. "What are we going to do about all those cacti? They won't be fun to climb over."

"Who said anything about climbing over them?" Wren retorted. "We aren't going over; we're going through." She stepped up to the wall of spiky plants, drew her sword, and then cut through the fattest stalks with a smooth swipe of the weapon. Now a hole in the barrier loomed large enough for the friends to go one by one. Wren went through first, followed by Jessie. Then came Sam, Ivor, and Petra. Lukas was the last one to slip through. He got a cactus spine stuck in his hair and very cautiously removed it. He didn't want it stuck in his hand instead.

When the double doors were opened, a wave of cold air blasted back on the travelers. They stepped inside and craned their necks back to fully appreciate its sweeping height. There were no stories or floors. Two sets of staircases, one wooden and the other stone, curled around the walls to reach up to the top of the tower. The odd stone bridge crisscrossed the gap between the staircases. Huge paintings hung on the gloomy stone walls, but there were no torches. The only light leaked through the glass floor of the final level of the tower.

"Do you still think this is a great place?" Ivor asked Petra, semi-sarcastically.

Spider hisses, and some other monster noises Jessie couldn't identify, echoed in the cavernous room. Jessie shuddered.

"Uh, keep an eye and an ear out," she advised her friends. "I don't think the Lich is going to be the only thing we fight in this tower."

Jessie started running up the wooden staircase, and a stampede of feet behind her told her that the others picked that route, too. She had her sword at the ready. She would need it, because they presently encountered a swarm of spiders on one of the stone bridges. These were regular, full-sized spiders, not the little green hedge spiders.

Hacking and slashing, the six friends killed the first wave of bugs. Then Ivor ran ahead, wielding a pickaxe, to break the spawn cage before it could spit up another round. With a few strikes of his pickaxe, he smashed the cage to bits. The smoke fizzled away, and no new spiders spawned.

Wordlessly, the team resumed running up the stairs. Occasionally, a monster would crawl into the staircase and attack them. Usually it would be either a spider or a skeleton. Whenever they were antagonized by beasties, the friends would deal quickly with it, hitting it hard enough with their swords to knock it off the stairs. There wasn't any time to waste fighting googlies when there was a Lich to defeat.

They encountered three more bridges of beasties before the staircase opened to the final floor. Jessie could hear heavy breathing, but it wasn't from her tired teammates. It was a harsh, metallic sound. Jessie had a very good idea of what was making the breathing noises.

"Okay, here we are," she gasped. "Six people versus one Lich. Prepare for battle."

"I'd suggest 'For Narnia and for Aslan!' as our battle cry, but that's more for fantasy wars with armies and stuff," Lukas rambled. "So let's just shout instead."

"Sure, Lukas."

"We're with ya to the end," Sam reassured her.

"On three," Wren said. "One. Two. Three!"

Yelling, they charged up the last few steps and flooded into the boss room. It was a mostly empty room with a brass chandelier, several paintings on the walls, and of course the Lich.

 _That wasn't what I expected_. The Lich was a skeleton with aged, discolored bones. He wore a tattered purple cloak, which encompassed his whole body except for rips in the sides for arm-holes. A spiky golden crown sat askew atop his skull. His eyes gleamed bloody red. One hand held his staff (a long bone with a red orb on top) and the other he waved in the air, controlling the ring of magical yellow shields that spun around his form.

The Lich whipped around to face the intruders, letting loose with a metallic gasping sound, very similar to that of a Blaze. Jessie shrank back and pointed her sword.

"I get the feeling that we'd have to break those shields before we can even think of doing him a lick of damage," Ivor said, gesturing at the shields.

"How would we do that?"

The Lich roared again and blasted a trio of projectiles resembling Ender Pearls at the six friends. They yelped and dodged away. Jessie felt the heat radiating from one as it whizzed past. Petra screamed her war cry and ran at the Lich swinging her sword, but as soon as she smashed it down, the shields repelled her. She was thrown back several feet and landed on her bottom.

"Ouch." She stood up. "Ivor's right."

Lukas whimpered, but then his expression lit up. "Hey, I have an idea."

He whistled. The Lich swung his head towards Lukas, and threw an Ender Pearl at him. Lukas was ready, though, and he parried the orb back at the Lich with a well-timed swipe of his sword. The rebounded pearl missed the Lich because he moved aside, but his plan had worked.

"I see where you're going with this, blond guy!" Wren said. "Reflect the orbs back at the beast! That's the ticket!" When the Lich shot at her again, she deflected it with a swift cut from her sword. Her shot was more lucky, though, and it smacked the Lich square-on. The Lich hissed, and one of his shields broke.

"Ha!" Wren cheered.

Undeterred, the Lich continued to shoot. Petra and Jessie both reflected orbs at the same time. One of them missed because the Lich moved out of the way, but the other scored a headshot, of all things. Another shield broke. Only three of his five original shields remained.

"You're doing great, everyone," Jessie encouraged her friends. "Keep fighting!"

Next, Ivor and Sam parried Ender Pearls back at the Lich. Both of their counterstrikes were successful. Down went two more shields. The Lich stormed from side to side zealously, furious that he was being overpowered by ragged adventurers. He whipped an extra-fast orb that Jessie had no time to rebound, so she had to dodge it instead. It smashed into the wall, knocking off a painting of karate fighters.

"Have at ya!" Petra taunted to get the Lich angry at her. He fired another round of orbs, as expected. She zipped forward, swiped her sword, and sent the Ender Pearl flying back at him to shatter the final shield.

The Lich paused for a second, realized that his halo of protection was gone, and then raged even more. He threw aside his red-topped staff and switched to a new one. This one had a leaden pole and a sickly green gem at the top. The undead wizard swished it around and summoned up a squad of zombies to fight his battles for him.

"I get the feeling that the mighty Twilight Lich is actually rather cowardly," Wren commented as she relieved a zombie of its head with a punishing sweep of her blade.

Jessie stabbed a zombie in the throat and said, "Don't get puffy."

Between the efforts of Jessie and her friends, they slaughtered all the zombies. Piles of rotten meat littered the floor. The Lich took a step back, looked down at the zombieflesh on the floor, then snarled and waved his staff. Instantly, a new crowd of zombies spawned, just as irascible as before.

"Zombies, zombies, zombies," Jessie muttered. "It's always lots of zombies."

"Better zombies than creepers or Endermen," Ivor said.

Wren and Petra spearheaded the defense, with Ivor and Sam tried to sneak up on the Lich. The former endeavor worked, while the latter didn't. The Lich saw them coming from a mile away and repelled them by throwing a trio of googlies their way.

Two zombies caught Jessie by surprise. They seized her arms by the elbows and growled hungrily. Jessie shrieked and tried to worm away, but their grip was tougher than she had expected.

"Help! Can someone give me a hand?"

"I gotcha!" An iron blade pierced through the chest of one of the zombies. It gurgled and groaned, then slumped to the floor. When the other zombie turned on Lukas, he was ready with his trusty iron sword. He cut it down with three hard slashes.

"Are you okay?" he asked Jessie when both googlies were dead again.

"Yeah. Thanks." She grinned at him. "Sweet moves! You're getting better at combat."

"Celebrate briefly," Wren warned them as she somersaulted past, throwing her sword to kill the last zombie standing. With the ironwood blade stuck in its gut, the varmint flopped to the ground and poofed away in a cloud of dust, leaving behind a pile of rotten flesh. Wren walked up to it, satisfied with herself, and retrieved her weapon.

The Lich shook his zombie staff again and the six friends brace for another wave of googlies, but nothing happened. He tried again to no avail, looked at it incredulously, made a vain third attempt, and then gave up on it. He chucked it aside, roaring in fury.

"Aww, what's the matter?" Petra taunted. "No more magic?"

In response, the Lich whisked out a huge golden sword.

"Now that's my kind of fight!" Petra twirled her own golden sword. "Six against one...this should be a breeze."

Well, it wasn't a breeze. The Lich was a fiercer fighter than anyone had expected. He not only slashed and stabbed with his weapon; he also used the improbably large blade to swat his foes out of the way. He utilized this tactic to bat the lesser fighters aside while focused on Petra and Wren. Jessie tried to run in for an attack, but kept getting repelled by the swinging blade. She had to retreat every time she charged in, or risk getting her head taken off.

Jessie whipped around when she heard a shriek and a sword clattering to the floor. Wren had dropped her weapon. She held both hands over her abdomen, wincing in pain, as the Lich stood over her. He had stabbed her. Blood was smeared all over his golden blade. He almost smirked as she fell on her knees, groaning, and then crumpled completely to the floor. A small pool of blood formed under her.

Jessie gasped. "Wren!"

"No!" Sam screamed. "Wren! Not my sister!"

He practically threw himself at the Lich in fury. The sudden charge caught the undead wizard off-guard. Sam hacked and chopped in rage at the monster that hurt his sister. He hit so hard that he knocked the golden sword out of the Lich's hand. Over and over again he bashed the beast with his weapon, shouting like a feral animal. He didn't even stop when the Lich let out a death throe and fell over into a pile of bones. He just kept beating the dead monster again and again in blind rage.

"Not! My! Sister!" he shouted, bashing the bones with the flat of his blade.

"Sam! SAM!" Jessie yelled, trying to get him to stop. "The Lich is dead. Stop!"

Only when the remains crumbled into dust and left the drops behind did Sam cease his battery. He threw his sword to the ground, panting. He was sitting on his knees among a pile of bones, Ender Pearls, a golden sword, a trophy head, and a glittering diamond. But he totally ignored the treasure. Sam ran to his sister's side and took her into his arms.

"Do you have a healing potion, alchemist?" he begged. "Please."

Ivor looked downcast. "I don't. I am so sorry, young man, but I don't."

"No, no, Wren," Sam wheezed. "Don't die on me, sis. I need you."

"You'll get along fine," Wren choked out. "Sorry, bro. I took on a fight I couldn't handle."

"Don't say that."

"I don't want you making the same mistake. You can stay here in the Forest, but don't try taking on the other bosses by yourself."

"Wren, please…" Sam's voice was hardly above a whisper. "Don't go."

Wren sucked in a shaky gasp; her lungs were failing her. "Sorry, Sam. It looks like it's my time to leave." She managed a pained smile. "Don't get all bummed, now. It won't be forever. I'll see you again someday."

She went limp in Sam's arms. He felt by the base of her neck.

His head drooped. "No heartbeat. She's gone." A tear ran down his pale cheek.

"I'm...I'm sorry, Sam," Jessie said softly.

"It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself." Sam stood up, still carrying Wren; he spoke softly to her. "Creator speed you, Wren. Go home. You don't have to fight anymore."

* * *

Sam and the other four led a silent procession all the way back to the cabin. The rain had not abated during their time in the tower, but no-one cared that they were getting soaked. The rain washed away the blood, rinsing Wren's fatal wound. By the time the five friends came to the old clearing with the cabin, she was all clean.

Jessie had the diamond to reactivate the portal, but she kept it stowed away in her Pocket for the time being. There were more important things to be attended to first. She, Petra, Lukas, and Ivor helped Sam dig a hole under an apple tree ("Wren's favorite. She'd always climb up to the top to pick the best apples.") to lay Wren to rest. Jessie and Lukas picked some flowers and arranged them in a wreath around the gravesite.

"Sam, I'm so sorry it ended this way," Jessie said, tearing up.

"I'm sorry, too."

"It's my fault. I feel so selfish now." She fingered the diamond in her Pocket.

"Why are you blaming yourself? The Lich killed her. Not you."

Jessie didn't say anything.

"I'm going to miss her so badly, but I heard what she said. She said it won't be forever. And in the meantime, I'm going to fight hard in her memory."

"Where will you go?"

"Wherever the quest progression takes me. But as for you, it's time to go home, huh?"

Jessie looked back at the shallow, water-filled dirt hole where the exit portal had been. "Looks like it. Thanks so much for your help, Sam."

"No prob." Sam nodded towards the hole. "Now throw that diamond in there. Something awesome happens when you do."

"Of course something awesome happens!" Petra said. "The portal opens and we get to go home!"

"Yeah, and a special something else. Something that only Twilight Forest portals do." He winked.

"Oh geez," Jessie said. "Now you're making me nervous."

Regardless of nerves, Jessie tossed the sparkly stone into the portal frame. Nothing happened for a split second, and then a lightning bolt arced down from the clouds and struck the portal. Thunder exploded in the air, almost deafening the five friends. They stumbled backwards and almost fell down.

"Whoa-ho-ho!" Petra exclaimed. "That _was_ awesome!"

The white goo of the portal was restored.

"All right!" Jessie cheered.

"Hey, Jess?" Lukas asked out of the blue.

"Yeah?" She turned to face him.

Lukas pointed. "Is that normal?"

A herd of sheep were bounding towards the group. The fluffy white animals were either panicking or drawn by curiosity to the sound of thunder. And Jessie, with dismay, noted that the critters weren't slowing down.

"Oh, no! Sheep stampede! Hit the deck!"

The foursome tried to run out of the way, but the sheep bowled them over. They were somehow snatched up and carried along with the stampede. To Sam's ever-growing incredulity, the wooly animals ran up to the portal. Then they fell, like a cascade of fleece, right into the portal, taking Jessie and her companions with them.

Sam saw a lot of strange things in his days, but that one right there took the cake.

* * *

"Aaugh!" Jessie, Lukas, Petra, and Ivor shouted as the sheep ran out of the portal and clustered into a big flock in front of it.

Jessie's head popped up among the sea of wooly heads. "Ugh. Sheep. Where is everyone?"

Lukas elbowed some ewes aside and stood up. "Over here!"

Petra shouted "GO AWAY!" at the sheep and then "I'm here!" to Jessie.

"Okay. One, two, three...wait a second." Jessie scanned the herd of sheep crowded into the hallway. "Ivor? Where's Ivor?"

She heard a muffled cry under the swarm of fleece that sounded like Ivor's voice.

"Oh, great, the sheep are mobbing him," she grumbled. "We gotta find him in this mess." Jessie rummaged through the assortment of sheep while Lukas and Petra looked on.

Then Ivor abruptly sprang up from the horde, covered in wool fibers and dirty hoof prints. "Gaaah!" The others just gave him a funny look.

Jessie could only hope that their next exit from a portal would be a little less...surreal. That hope would probably fall flat, but it was worth a shot, right?

 **A/N: And there we go! Arc Four is a wrap. I'm excited for Arc Five, but I can't tell you what it's about right now. I want it to be a surprise ;)**


	19. Rule 63

Jessie and her friends shooed the sheep away. There wasn't really a way to get rid of the wooly animals for now, so Jessie just let the sheep waddle off to wherever they pleased. Maybe the little varmints would go back home on their own.

"Okay, now what?" Lukas asked. One of the lambs had taken a liking to him and trotted around his ankles, refusing to leave. When Lukas sat on the floor for a few minutes, the lamb tried to eat his hair and smudged its nose on his book. He had promptly stood up after that. Sheep were cute, but this one was just being pesky.

"Maybe someday you'll have a girlfriend almost as clingy as that sheep," Petra said, snickering.

"Jessie isn't clingy," Lukas said, a bit offended. Then he realized the implications of his blurt and clapped his hand over his mouth.

"Freudian slip!" Ivor teased.

"Hey, guys, don't we need to pick the next portal?" Lukas asked, eager to change the subject. His cheeks and the tips of his ears were flushed red.

"Yeah. It's your turn." Petra pointed at him.

"Okay. My turn...my turn...my turn," Lukas trailed off as he shuffled down the hallway, examining all the colorful portals and mentally checking off the ones they had already visited. "Water world, Sky City, time traveling world, Psycho Pumpkin Mansion...oh, hello. Did we try this one yet?" He stopped at a green portal framed in gold and studded with emerald.

"Yeah, we did. That one is the one with the monsters and ghosts." Petra shuddered. "Never again."

"No, wait a minute." Ivor said, stroking his bearded chin as he examined the portal. "Actually, I do believe that this is a different portal. You see, the monsters and ghosts portal had a partial gold frame. This one's gold frame is a full rectangle."

"Nice eye, Ivor," Lukas said. "I'd better take a note of that for future reference." He pulled out his journal and jotted down the detail.

"Why do they have to look so similar?" Jessie moaned. "Did the Old Builders make the hallway this convoluted on purpose? To confuse intruders and whatnot?"

"If that's the case, I'd say they're successful." Lukas glanced around at the alien geometry of quartz and colorful portals.

"Boy, I really hope this is it," Jessie sighed. "I'm tired. I want to go home."

"We all do," Lukas said. "These other worlds have been cool, but they're not like home at all."

"Chin up, guys," Petra encouraged. "We'll find our way home eventually. In the meantime, we just have to keep trying. I'm pretty sure this one won't be it, but I guess it's worth a shot."

Ivor didn't chime in with his opinion. That was because he was already poised to charge through the portal. The three teens' conversation was interrupted by the kooky old man careening through their midst, hurtling towards the green goo.

"Adventure!" With a whooshing sound, he disappeared into the new world.

Jessie shrugged. "Right on time. Let's go, friends."

* * *

Jessie had all of two seconds to notice that the clouds in the sky seemed askew before she suddenly found herself falling. She dropped about two meters, then collided with a tree and rolled down its trunk. She landed facedown in a pad of grass. Before she even had time to lift her head off of the dirt, she heard two thumps and cries of distress as the same thing happened to Lukas and Petra.

"What in the world…?" Jessie asked as she stood up. She was glad for armor. Ramming into the tree hadn't been a nice experience. She'd have a bruised back tomorrow morning.

"I think we just fell into the world sideways," Lukas said. Petra helped him to his feet.

"This place looks very promising!" Ivor reported, coming out of nowhere. The three kids gasped in surprise before realizing that it was just Ivor.

"Gosh!" Jessie said. "Don't do that. You scared me."

"He's right, though," Lukas said, looking around. "I'm seeing wide open land. Grass, trees, flowers, looks like only one moon."

It was true. Jessie, Petra, Lukas, and Ivor stood at the edge of a light wooded area. A plain of olive-green grass rolled out ahead of them. Hills brushed with wildflowers flanked the plains. It wasn't a balmy day, though. There was a cloud cover, and the wind brought a chill to the air. Still, this world looked the most like home out of all the ones they had seen thus far.

"This spot seems unfamiliar, but it's pretty," Petra commented as they started walking across the field.

"We probably landed in some undeveloped place," Jessie said. "If we keep going, we'll find a village or town eventually."

Lukas quickly did a double-take to check if his lamb "friend" had followed him into the portal. To his relief, no little sheep lingered at his heels.

"How long has it been, do you think?" Jessie wondered aloud. "It's gotta have been at least a week."

"It seems to me that we have been at this for a month," Ivor replied.

Eventually, the plain dipped into a valley with a creek running through it. The four friends ambled down the valley, waded through the stream, and then started cresting the hill. When they reached its apex, they would stop to survey the landscape beyond before continuing. Would there be more wilderness to trek across, or had they found civilization at last?

"Well, what do you see?" Jessie asked Petra, who was the fastest in the group and had reached the peak of the hill first. She stood shielding her eyes against the muted sunlight.

"Holy heck!" she exclaimed at whatever she saw. "Come on up. You guys have to see this."

"What is it?" the other three kept asking.

"I said, come up and see it. I'm having trouble describing it."

Jessie climbed up to the top of the hill, joining Petra. Like her friend, she held up her hand to shield from the sunlight, then scanned the landscape unfolding before her.

Not too far from the top of the hill upon which they stood was a city. It wasn't a mere village or town. It was a sprawling metropolis, a smudge of gray and steel blue against the surrounding greenery. Skyscrapers rose like branchless trees above the small concrete buildings below. The spread of houses and ilk was divided up into neat squares, with roads running between. Minecart trails charged into the midst of the city from the east and west, although nothing was running on them at the time.

"Wow!" Jessie exclaimed as she took it in. "That's the biggest town I've ever seen...and the tallest buildings...and the most packed neighborhoods. It's like a...like a...mega-town or something."

"City," Ivor said, enunciating a rarely-spoken word. No-one ever needed to say "city" back home...they only knew of villages and small towns. Such compacted communities were uncommon in this universe. The abundance of land and resources made pressing thousands of people into a small area unnecessary.

"Ugh," Petra grunted. "Who could stand to live in such a tight spot? It looks like there's hardly room to breathe. No siree, I prefer the nomad's life. Thanks." She turned and started going back down the hill.

Jessie stopped her by grabbing the collar of her jacket. "Wait. We might have found the right dimension, but this isn't the right area. I think we'll have to go into that city for directions. We should ask around if anyone knows where _our_ hometown is."

So that was their new plan. Without any more discussion, the foursome went down the hill, heading over to the city. It was a short walk, probably about fifteen minutes, before they reached the city limits. In case they would run into a barrier or other inaccessible place, they decided to follow the minecart tracks into the city. It was Lukas's idea. He figured that the tracks would take them to a transportation station, and such a station would be the best place to get directions. After all, who knows directions better than the people who manage where minecarts go all day long?

When they reached the minecart tracks, they realized something peculiar.

"These are rather large for little minecart tracks, don't you think?" Jessie wondered aloud. She tapped her sneaker on the heavy iron rail holding down the rails, ties, and overall construction of the track were significantly larger than the typical minecart rail.

"Yeah...I wonder why that is," Lukas murmured. "They must need bigger minecarts to hold more people, supplies, and whatnot."

The friends followed the tracks as they snaked away into the urban sprawl. They passed a sign telling visitors that they were now entering "Moog City." Seas of grass became clusters of buildings and concrete lots. The air here was heavy and stifled, a contrast from the open countryside air. The clouds seemed grayer under the shadow of the skyscrapers.

"Odd," Jessie commented as she walked on one of the rails like it was a balance beam. "The sky seems heavier here. It's weird."

"Yeah," Petra agreed warily. She sighed, tired of walking. Fortunately, they only had a couple dozen more meters to walk before the tracks finally ended at a transportation station.

Jessie took another step, then glanced down when the iron bar started to quiver underfoot. "Why's it shaking?"

"Minecart, obviously," Petra said. "No big deal."

Jessie's response was drowned out by the blare of a long, low tone followed by a shrieking whistle. The track rattled more aggressively. Jessie wobbled, trying to stay on.

"What in the world...That sounded like a dying Ghast," Ivor said.

The "dying Ghast" sound wailed again. Jessie warily stepped off of the rattling rails. And just in time, because a huge tube-shaped monstrosity roared past in a screaming blur. It plowed over the spot Jessie had been standing on a second ago, rolling untold tons of metal over it. It screeched to a stop at the station, spraying sparks from its wheels.

Jessie fell backwards from the surprise. Lukas caught her before she hit her head on the ground. All four of the friends gaped at the sight of the giant metal contraption standing on what they had thought were minecart tracks. Well, this doozy clearly was not a minecart. It was big enough to roll over a minecart and flatten it into a sheet of tinfoil.

"What _is_ that thing?" Petra shouted, voicing the thoughts of everyone.

The whatever-it-was consisted of several metal boxes sitting on chassis with tiny wheels. They were bolted together into a long chain. The boxes had windows near their top edges. Leading the chain was an engine, which had a tube sticking out of the top. White smoke poured out of the tube.

However, these four had no concept of anything like this. It may as well have been some beastly animal made out of metal, which ran along tracks at an unimaginable speed. Perhaps it was a grossly mutated Iron Golem, or a naga snake clad in armor. Not even Ivor, owner of a thousand books and keeper of a million random facts, had a clue what its identity truly was.

Abruptly, doors on the sides of the boxes swung open. A small crowd of people emerged, stepping onto the sidewalk. Most of them carried suitcases or rolling backpacks. Many of them wore formal suits or tasteful dresses. They yawned and checked their clocks, bored with their routine.

Jessie and her friends reacted a little less mundanely. They gaped and goggled at what they were witnessing. It was sensory overload! Petra furiously pointed her sword at the "monster" in case it decided to attack. Ivor mumbled to himself. Lukas hastily sketched pictures of the "monster" in his journal.

As for Jessie, she was running back and forth on the sidewalk, elbowing into people and shouting in panic. "Oh my gosh! What is that horrible, horrible monster? Is that some kind of mob? And oh! Mercy! It ate those poor people and now they had to cut their way out! Aaaugh! Are you guys okay? Is it dead; did you kill it? Ma'am? Sir? Are you all right?"

A guy walking past just stopped and stared at her. "What on the Creator's green earth are you blabbering about? Did you and your pals crawl out of the crazy bin?"

At first, Jessie was offended by the man's rudeness, but then she realized what a scene she and her friends were making. Yeah...four people wearing suits of weird armor, running in circles, and yelling things about monsters. No wonder the commuters were keeping well away from them.

"But...but...what is that thing?" Jessie whimpered, pointing at the contraption from which the man had emerged.

He looked over his shoulder at it and then back at Jessie. "Haven't you ever seen a train before?"

"A what?" Lukas approached, quill poised to take notes.

"Train," the man repeated. It's like a big chain of minecarts, but much faster because it runs on an engine. And more comfortable, too. It is _not_ an animal or a monster. I ride it to work every day."

"Ohhh," Jessie said. "I think I get it. Gee, home sure has changed since I was gone."

"Pssh," he scoffed. "As if you've been gone long enough for home to change much, youngster!" He shrugged and walked away.

"Wow. Rude," Petra commented as she watched him leave. "So this (she nodded at the train) isn't a monster after all?"

Jessie shrugged. "I guess so."

"Now who do we ask for directions?" Lukas wondered. There were now a lot of people around, but by this time, most of them were certain that the foursome were lunatics. At least they had a lot of elbow room as they wandered the station, looking for anyone who might be able to steer them in the right direction.

Eventually, the found a small booth with a sign that said "INFORMATION." A woman sat behind the counter, smacking the keys of a typewriter. Every so often she was interrupted by a shrill ringing sound. It came from a small red box on the counter with a dumbbell-shaped apparatus sitting on top (a telephone, but Jessie and her friends had no way of knowing that.)

The woman was holding the dumbbell to her face and talking into it as the foursome approached her desk. "I've told you this before. We don't want what you're selling! Why are you calling a public venue?"

Ivor loudly cleared his throat. The woman peered at him over the edge of the desk. She frowned and pointed at him, mouthing _I'm talking_.

"She's talking to herself," Petra complained. "And they thought that _we_ were crazy."

"For the last time, we aren't interested!" the woman shouted, and then slammed the dumbbell on top of its red box. "Stupid telemarketers. What do you people want?"

"We need directions," Ivor explained. "We figured that you would probably know the most on the subject, given your job. Do you know how to get to Stone Creek Village from here?"

"We don't keep maps at this station," the woman replied. "We run the trains according to predetermined schedules."

Jessie, Petra, and Lukas all groaned in disappointment.

"If you want to look at maps, I'd suggest heading downtown to Oh-Here Station instead. That's the master station for the Chicken Rails Company."

"Oh. Fair enough. Thank you," Ivor said. "What does that building look like, so we know when we find it?"

"The building itself is pretty unimpressive, but it's right across the block from St. Timothy's Chapel. You'll be able to see the church steeple, no problem. Then you just need to cross the street and bada-bing, you're at Oh-Here."

"St. Timothy's Chapel. Look for a steeple," Jessie mused, taking mental notes. "Got it. Thank you very much."

"You're welcome. Have a nice da—" The telephone rang again. "Oh, darn it!"

They left the station and started on the sidewalk, walking alongside the stony streets. Moog City was a confusing maze of buildings and roads that all looked the same. Not a lot of people were on the streets, but occasionally the foursome encountered a group clustered at a crosswalk, waiting to cross the street. When the average Steves and Stephs on the street saw the strangers in suits of outlandish armor, they would uncomfortably skirt away and avoid eye contact with the loonies.

Some time later, they finally turned a bend and found what they had been looking for. A thin spire topped with a cross rose to the sky in the shadow of a tall building. A handmade sign stood outside the small church, declaring it "St. Timothy's Chapel. Services Sunday and Saturday. Visitors Welcome."

"Okay, here's our chapel," Jessie said, pointing at it. "It's a cute little place. I'd like a church like that back home. Anyhoo, the lady at the information booth said that it was right across the street from that Oh-Here Station we were supposed to find."

"Uh, Jessie?" Lukas asked. "I think we have a problem."

"Why?" Jessie turned around to face him. Then she saw the problem.

There was no Oh-Here Station across the street from St. Timothy's. There wasn't _anything_ across the street from St. Timothy's. It was simply an empty lot. The only thing occupying it was a pair of school-aged kids drawing pictures on the concrete with chalk.

A disappointed and steamed Jessie wanted to shout a certain four-letter word, but the young kids and churchgoers nearby made her rethink it. "Oh, great. Just great. Was that secretary mistaken or…"

"Maybe she was trying to get rid of us," Ivor suggested. "She might have been unnerved by our appearance...and our behavior in the station."

"Looks like we need a plan B," Petra said.

"Which would be?" Ivor asked, hands on hips.

"Most likely wandering until we find another lead," Jessie said with a shrug. "That's how we usually do things. We tend to make up our plan as we go along."

No-one else had another idea to offer, so they did just that. They wandered for about half an hour. Meanwhile, the sun slowly climbed to its noonday perch, though its progress was hidden behind cloud cover. After a while, the four friends paused at an open plaza to catch a break. Jessie glanced up at a clock hanging on a wall over a building. The sun on its dial hung at the zenith of the sky.

"Well, there's a long morning I'll never get back," Ivor complained.

"I'm hungry. Can we stop for lunch?" Lukas requested.

"We should stop and get something to eat," Petra agreed. "We'll need to keep up our strength."

"There's a sandwich place right over there." Jessie pointed to the cheerful orange building on the other end of the plaza. "How about there?"

The others nodded, saying things like "That will do," and "I like sandwiches."

Petra was actually willing to give up a few chunks of iron this time. Persistent hunger has a way of removing inhibitions.

Jessie reviewed their progress between bites of a grilled cheese. "If this is the Treehouse Dimension— _home_ —obviously a lot of things have changed since we were gone. I don't remember having this kind of technology when we left. Trains and skyscrapers and all that fancy stuff. It's hard to wrap my head around it all. At this time, we have no leads. The information lady played a mean trick on us, and ambling around isn't bringing any results. Having practically everyone avoid us because we look weird isn't helping, either. I was thinking that maybe we should take off our armor and go about in our normal clothes, so we won't attract as much attention. What do you think?"

"I know we feel awkward, but I think we should actually keep our armor on," Lukas piped up. "Suppose a fan spots us wearing our armor. They'll recognize us, then, and maybe they could help us find our way. How's about that?"

"Hmm. Good point." Jessie took another bite of her sandwich. "But...I don't know. This is bad. We don't have the slightest idea what we should do. We're lost."

"Oh, don't talk like that," Petra scolded. "You know I hate quitters. I don't like waddling around this stuffy city, but I don't like giving up, either."

"'Atta girl, Petra," Lukas said. He had already scarfed up his grilled cheese and was thinking of ordering another.

"Guess it's time to hit the sidewalk again, in that case," Jessie said.

* * *

After cleaning up the trash from their sandwiches, the group headed out onto the streets again. The sidewalks were more crowded this time because of people on their lunch hour. Busy, busy, busy...this city was always so busy. At first, Jessie led the group along, but after a few minutes she started to lag and Petra took the lead instead. She was getting tired. She still kept a bleary eye out for any clues, though. And it was good that she did.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jessie spotted someone in red dart into an alleyway between a print shop and a laundromat. Curious, she stopped in her tracks. The others either didn't see the person or disregarded them, but Jessie was willing to follow any lead. For really the first time since they started this adventure, she secretly broke away from the group to investigate. She didn't want to lose track of this mystery person who could be a possible clue.

So Jessie ducked into the alley to follow them. She kept her footsteps as rapid but quiet as possible, so that the object of her pursuit wouldn't be alerted. Some old garbage bags and broken furniture had been stuffed into the narrow space, but she was able to step over them with relative ease.

The alleyway 90-degree'd to an abandoned lot behind a line of buildings. It was a square of concrete half-surrounded by chain link fence, but it was hardly an empty square. Carrots and berry bushes grew in miniature wooden planters. A few swords leaned against the wall. A sheep grazed lazily on a bale of hay in its teensy pen. A half-completed redstone contraption took up a fair corner of the lot. Someone had converted this forgotten lot into a homely hidey-hole. What with the classical weapons and old-fashioned redstone machinery, this place seemed like a tiny refuge against modernity.

While Jessie secretly watched, taking cover behind a heap of garbage bags, the mystery person approached the redstone gizmo, got down on one knee, and started to tinker with it. Now that they had stopped moving, Jessie could get a better look at them. The person wore a white shirt with a red vest over the top and a lime-colored beret hat with goggles. They were dark-skinned, black-haired, and _very familiar_.

Jessie almost gasped, and she bit her lip to keep from asking aloud, "No way! Olivia?"

If Olivia was here, then that meant they were home! But man alive, had the Treehouse Dimension changed since Jessie and her friends left. How long had they been gone? Clearly it was a long time, if the people back home had time to invent all kinds of modern marvels. Trains and telephones hadn't existed when the dream team ran through the Sky City portal. Still, it was weird that Olivia the redstone genius had made a home away from home and surrounded herself with old-fashioned things. Didn't Olivia love progress?

Well, none of those questions would be answered if Jessie just stood there and said nothing while Olivia tinkered. Besides, it would be great to reunited with her friend after all this time spent portal-hopping.

Jessie sprang up and pranced over the garbage bags. "Hey! Hi!"

Olivia gave a start, dropping her tools. "Who said that?" Her voice sounded croaky, like she had a cold or something.

Jessie rambled on and on as she approached her friend. "It's me, Jessie. Petra, Lukas, and Ivor are here, too, but they didn't follow me into the alley. Boy, have I missed you and Axel! It's so great to be back home, even if things are way different than they were when we left. Well, I suppose you can fill us in later. Gosh, I have so many stories about all the worlds we visited while trying to get back home! Even though we had fun, I'm glad to be back home and with my friends."

Finally, Olivia lifted her hand as a signal for Jessie to clam up already. She turned around, and when she did, Jessie got the surprise of her life.

The person whom she thought was Olivia was really not Olivia at all.

It was a BOY dressed the same way as her, with the same dark skin, hair, and eyes.

"Who's Olivia?" he asked. "My name is Oliver."


	20. Beside Ourselves

**A/N: Welcome to the Gender Bender World...**

It was probably really rude, but Jessie just stood there gaping at Oliver. She weakly pointed at him and tried to say something, but nothing came out. She let her hand drop.

Oliver frowned. "Is something wrong, Jessie? ...That's your name, right?"

"I'm Jessie," she said hoarsely, still dumbfounded. "I'm...sorry. I thought you were someone else."

"It's all right. It was just an innocent mistake. But what's all this claptrap about going to other worlds?" He stowed his tools away. He looked uncomfortable by Jessie's mention of 'other worlds.' Great. He probably thought she was crazy. So much for making a good impression...

"Well, um, it's kinda a long story," Jessie said, not sure where to start.

"I have time."

"Okay. So my friends and I are like this little club of adventurers. I don't know how long ago this was, because I lost track of the time, but we found an enchanted flint and steel that lights special portals and takes people to other worlds. Not just the Nether or End, but like, parallel universes. We got lost in the Portal Hallway and we've been spending way too much time trying to get back home."

"Enchanted flint and steel?"

"It's a thing, I swear. I can even show it to you." Jessie started digging in her Pocket for the trinket.

"No, no, you don't need to do that." Oliver held up his hand at her. "I know what it is. My friend has one."

"Really? What's their name?"

"Heh, you won't believe this, but his name is Jesse, too. Weirdly enough, he kind of looks like you. If you were a boy, that is."

Jessie exhaled, trying to make sense of this situation. This was some serious mind-screw. "Okaaay...Do you, by any chance, happen to have other friends besides Jesse?"

Oliver nodded. "Of course. My other friends are Lexi, Peter, and Lucy. Oh, and Jesse is also pals with this cranky old lady named Ivory. I don't know Ivory that well."

Jessie started to feel a little lightheaded. "Oh, my...is this what I think this is?"

"Depends. What do you think this is?"

"Is this some crazy world where everyone's gender is reversed? People who are boys back home are girls here and vice versa?"

"Um...I don't think I have an answer for that question."

"Well, I'm obviously not in my home dimension, and you look and act way too much like Olivia for it to just be a coincidence."

"Um...okay, I guess."

"Where are your friends?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your friends. Ah, what were their names...Peter and Jesse and Lucy and that third person. I need to talk to them. Where are they?"

Oliver shrugged. "Somewhere around here, I guess."

"You don't know?"

"I don't keep tabs on them. Why do you need to talk to them?"

"Wait." Jessie twirled a piece of hair in her fingers. "Maybe I should just ask you. Do you, by any chance, happen to know where the exit portal for this world is? Since we're not actually in our home dimension, we might as well turn around and get back on track to finding the right one. No offense."

"None taken," Oliver said with a shrug. "The exit portal is in the metropolitan center of town. You should be able to catch a commuter train to the middle of the city."

"Sweet!" Jessie pumped a triumphant fist in the air. "For once, it will actually be easy to go home. Ha!"

"Oh, so you have two flint and steels?" Oliver asked. "Lucky you! I thought you only had one."

Jessie squinted at him. "Huh? What does that mean? Am I missing something here?"

"This world's portal is kind of weird. You'd need sparks from two flintensteels to light it up."

Jessie's reactionary "WHAAAAAT?" was loud enough to startle some pigeons perching on the fence post. They fluttered away, squawking. Oliver recoiled, stopping his ears with his fingers.

"Don't tell me we have to go running all over the world to find another set!" Jessie ranted. "Nuh-uh! No way! I'm tired of running all over weird dimensions looking for macguffins! I don't want to go on yet another scavenger hunt."

Oliver slowly backed away, hands out as if Jessie was going to tackle him in anger. She noticed his discomfort.

"Oh. Sorry." She brushed her hair back, embarrassed. "That wasn't on you. I think the stress is starting to get to me."

"Indeed. So, now what? Am I supposed to help you find the second flintensteel?"

"That would be ideal," Jessie said. She gave him a begging, corny smile.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Fine. I guess I can help. I really don't want to, but I gotta be nice and all that junk. I suppose it wouldn't be any good for you to wander around the city with no leads. We can look for my friends and see if they can give us a hand, too."

Jessie was about to say something, but the Petra burst into the back lot, followed by Lukas and Ivor. She bounded over the trash bags easily, but Lukas tripped and fell. Ivor pulled blondie to his feet and then they caught up to Petra.

"Jessie, Jessie!" Petra said. "I heard high-pitched screams. What's going on?"

"Why did you sneak away from us?" Ivor demanded. "You had me worried for a minute there, Jessie. I thought someone kidnapped you."

"I'm fine, guys, really."

Petra leaned to the side and looked at Oliver. "Who's that guy? And why is he dressed up like Olivia? Is he a fanboy?"

Jessie took a step backwards and put her arm around Oliver's shoulders. "Friends, I'd like you to meet Olivia's male counterpart. This is the dimension where the opposite-gender versions of ourselves live."

"No, your dimension is the one where the opposite-gender versions of _my friends and I_ live," Oliver insisted. "Not the other way around."

"Oh, whoa, let's not get into that argument," Lukas, ever the intercessor, cut in. "We need to work together on this."

"What should we do?" Petra asked.

"I just finished telling Jessie about how the exit portal in this world needs the sparks from two flint and steels to activate. Now if we can track Jesse down, we can get the flint and steel and I'll have you out of my hair," Oliver explained.

"Jessie's right here," Petra gave him a funny look and pointed at Jessie.

"Not that Jessie. _My_ friend Jesse. J-E-S-S-E. He's a boy."

"Oh, _that's_ going to be annoying. Their names sound the same." Ivor facepalmed.

"Let's get a plan organized so we can jump to action right away," Oliver suggested. "If we have a plan, then this will go quicker and you randos will be out of my hair."

"That's not a nice thing to say," Lukas whined.

Petra elbowed him. "Don't be a crybaby."

"We'll look for Peter first, then Lucy, then Ivory, and then between the all of us, we can find Jesse. I don't know where Jesse is. He likes to go on adventures by himself."

"Peter first, Lucy, Ivory, Jesse," Jessie repeated. "Got it."

"I hate going on these gotta-catch-em-all quests," Petra muttered.

"It's better than wandering all the time," Ivor piped up.

"We do tend to do a lot of that, don't we?" Jessie put her hand on her hip.

"Ahem," Oliver said. "Let's not get distracted. You cavemen probably think that the only way to get around town is on foot or horseback. That's too slow. Instead, we should use the trains and buses. Way more efficient."

"What's a bus?" Jessie and her friends said in unison.

"So backwards," Oliver whispered to himself; then he said, "I mean, no back roads. Yeah. That's what I said. Um, buses are a way to move around a lot of people at once on the roads. I'll tell you when we see one. We need to get down to the south side of Moog City to find Peter. Knowing the Petester, he's probably at the gym again. Don't worry about fares. I have bus tokens. Oh, and I have a map, too." He pulled a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket.

"Thank goodness," Jessie sighed.

"Come on. I'll show you guys to a bus stop." Oliver pushed past them, leading the way out of his secret alcove. The foursome followed him hesitantly, not sure if he was trustworthy. Petra checked to make sure her trusty sword was within reach, in case things went south.

"I'm not sure how I feel about this dimension," Ivor said to Jessie as they walked out of the alley and back onto the sidewalk. "It's very different than any I've seen. The place seems very harried, and I don't quite know what to make of this Oliver character. Do you really think he's supposed to be a male version of Olivia?"

Jessie shrugged. "He looks like her, likes redstone like her, and is just as pessimistic. It seemed reasonable. Why? Don't you think he's this world's Olivia?"

"He seems mean," Lukas cut in. "He's rude, and he keeps insulting us. Olivia never acted like that. She was a total pessimist, but at least she wasn't _mean_."

"Hey, stop!" Oliver shouted abruptly, and pushed Petra back when she tried to step off of the sidewalk. "Don't go into the street, for love's sake. You want to be a pancake?"

To illustrate his point, a few cars sped through the intersection. They looked like newer, sleeker versions of Tiberius's steam-powered C.A.R. And smellier. They gave off an acrid chemical scent in their wake.

"Peeyew," Petra complained. "What's that nasty smell?"

"Gasoline. The cars run on it," Oliver explained, with a barely-masked roll of his eyes. Then he looked both ways down the street before stepping off of the sidewalk. He walked forward a few paces and then motioned for the others to follow. They hurried through the crosswalk with him, making it to the other side before cars had the clear to go again.

Oliver informed them that there was only another block to walk. Buildings lined the left side of the street, packed so closely together that their side walls abutted. On this block, there were several concrete buildings and a couple trendy coffeehouses. The other people on the sidewalk were nose deep in paperwork or too busy checking their watches, so they hardly noticed the weirdos in armor.

At the end of the block, they reached the bus stop. It wasn't fancy; just two benches protected by a glass wall and a blue awning. Two other people sat on the benches, reading the daily paper or checking their schedules. A telephone booth stood next to the bus stop.

"What's a telephone?" Jessie asked Oliver as they gathered up under the awning.

"A little gadget people use to talk to people far away. Every telephone has a number. You press the right buttons for the number, then pick up that dumbbell-looking thing and wait for the other person to say something."

Ivor mumbled, "What kind of sorcery is this?"

"Here, have a seat on those benches," Oliver instructed.

"Okay." Jessie and her friends sat down, two people to a bench. "Why? What should we do next?"

"Eat my dust!" Oliver abruptly ran away. By the time anyone from the team realized what happened, he was well down the sidewalk.

"See you never, weirdos!" he shouted over his shoulder, before running through the intersection. And he didn't look both ways before crossing (irresponsible twit!)

Jessie leaned over the side of the bench, dumbfounded. "...Did Oliver just run away on us?"

"Yes. Yes, he did," Petra growled. "What a jerk."

"He brought us to this stupid bus stop and now we're lost," Ivor said. "I'm very disappointed in that young man."

"We don't have any maps. We don't have any 'bus tokens,' whatever the heck those things are. We don't have anyone to help us find our way in this blasted city. We're back to square one, _again_!" Petra fumed.

When Petra stopped listing grievances, Jessie settled back in her seat and rested her chin in her hand. She watched the traffic and pedestrians with little interest. Then, she heard someone sniffling, as if they were going to cry. The sniffling wasn't coming from Ivor, Petra, or Lukas. It came from a person hidden behind an open copy of the daily paper.

"Are you all right?" Jessie asked. "Is something upsetting you?"

The person lowered the paper to her lap, revealing a young woman. She wore a pink striped T-shirt, jeans, and a black leather jacket. Her eyes were blue and her hair was blonde. It fell down her back in dainty loose curls. It looked like she spent a lot of time tending and styling it.

Jessie glanced back and forth between Lukas and the girl. Uncanny similarity. She could be his sister...or his female doppelganger.

"I just don't like it when people shout," the girl said tearfully. "I don't like loud noise."

A car shot past them on the road and blared its horn. The girl shuddered.

"So it's a wonder why I live in the city," she added.

"Sorry for yelling," Petra said, and for once, it wasn't sarcastic. "But is that all you're upset about? I've never seen people cry over loud noise."

"It happens," the girl defended. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Are you lost?" Jessie asked. "What's your name?"

"I'm Lucy. I don't know if I'm lost. I'm pretty sure this is the right bus stop."

 _Lucy. Yep. I'll be darned if this isn't the female version of Lukas._

"My friends and I are lost. A mean guy ditched us here and now we don't know where to go. Things haven't been going very well for us."

"Oh. Sorry that happened to you. If you want me to leave, I can. I'd hate to bother you."

"Don't apologize. It's not your fault."

"Sorry."

Jessie stifled smile at "Lucy" apologizing for apologizing.

Lucy handed Jessie a folded piece of paper. "Here, take this."

Jessie hesitantly grabbed it. "What is it?" Then she answered her own question by unfolding it and revealing a general map of Moog City, divided into districts.

"I bet you guys don't want me to be a guide around the city or anything, since you're probably having a hard time trusting people right now. But I figured if I can help you at all, I should."

"This is actually pretty helpful." Jesside studied the map. "You know, Lucy, you're OK. Why don't you come with us?"

Jessie wouldn't have admitted it, but her motivation was more investigation than being nice. Oliver had mentioned "Lucy" as being one of his friends. Given the context, this was most likely the "Lucy" in question. Maybe Jessie and company could figure out a few more things about the nature of this gender-flipped world if they hung out with Lucy.

"We don't want to stay long, Lucy," Jessie said. "We just have to find the second set of enchanted flint and steel so we can relight the portal for this world. After that, we'll stop bothering you."

"You're not bothering me. Jesse has a magic flintensteel. He'll let you borrow it if you ask him nicely."

"Which is exactly what we plan on doing. Do you know where he is?"

Lucy shook her head. "No, not exactly. But either Peter or Ivory knows, and I know where _they_ are."

"Well, that's good," Jessie said. "That's a push in the right direction. Can you take us to one or the other? Who, do you think, knows?"

"What if we went to both at the same time?" Lucy suggested. "We'd get twice the work done at the same time."

"Right." Jessie paced on the ground, scheming. "Okay, here's the plan. Lukas and Ivor, you guys go look for Ivory. Lucy will tell you where to go. Petra, Lucy, and me...we're going to look for Peter. Sound like a plan?"

"No," Petra said. "I want to go with Lukas and Ivor."

"Why?"

"I wanna know what alternate dimension me looks like! Please?"

"Ugh. Fine."

"Ivory goes to a Horticulture Club every evening to talk about herbology," Lucy told them. "The Horticulture Club is about three miles from here, straight down. Jessie and I will look for Peter. Knowing him, he's probably working out."

"Got it," said Petra and the boys. Lucy pointed them in the right direction and they left. They seemed a little nervous, not sure if she was going to play a mean trick on them like the last two times they'd been given directions, but they were getting desperate at this point.

Jessie and Lucy departed quickly thereafter. Lucy didn't say much as they walked down the sidewalk. She didn't seem like the chatty type. Jessie gave her the map back. Lucy would be better at reading it than Jessie. The route they took traced back the way Jessie had gone earlier. It led them down the two blocks, around a few more. At one point, they passed by St. Timothy's Chapel. As they walked past, Jessie could hear the organ blaring through the church's walls.

"I love this hymn!" Lucy gushed, stopping to listen.

"I hate to pull a person away from church, but we're on a mission," Jessie said, pulling Lucy along by the jacket sleeve.

They walked for a short while longer. It was starting to turn evening by this point. The sun was setting, but it was hard to see it past the skyscrapers on the horizon. Evening commuters hustled past on the sidewalks. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry. Jessie and Lucy pressed to the sides of the buildings so they wouldn't be walking through the midst of an onrush of foot traffic. When they passed an alleyway, someone inside it shouted. Jessie ignored them, but it caught Lucy's attention.

"Oh, hey, it's Malcolm." Lucy stopped short. She nodded at a young man standing in the alleyway.

"It's who?" Jessie looked at her quizzically.

"A friend. Jesse, the other guys, and I met him on one of our hijinks," Lucy explained, then leaned in and added in a whisper, "Jesse doesn't like him-thinks he's a bum. He seems fine to me, though."

"We go a ways back," Malcolm said, wearing a lopsided smile.

He had tanned skin, blue eyes, and a smattering of freckles across his cheeks. His posture was easygoing and untroubled as he leaned against the wall, hands in his jeans pockets. His torso was hidden under a sweatshirt a few sizes too big, but as it drooped over his waistline, it didn't hide the piece of white cloth tucked into his belt, right on his hip. Jessie assumed the cloth was just a hanky or a dishtowel carried for whatever reason. Or maybe it was some weird modern fashion trend. Who knew.

"What are you doing here?"

"What, I can't just mind my own business next to a wall?"

"Don't be rude,," Lucy said to Jessie.

"He seems sketchy."

"How goes it, Lucy?" Malcolm asked, ignoring Jessie. "What are you and your buddies up to now?"

"We're looking for Jesse. We need his enchanted flint and steel."

Malcolm perked up at the mention of the flint and steel. "You don't say?"

"Oh, do you want to come with us while we look for it?" Lucy offered.

"Would I!" Malcolm grinned. The corner of his mouth twitched.

"What help could be possibly be?" Jessie sneered.

"Do you know where you're going from here?" Malcolm challenged. "How to get around the city?"

That gave Jessie pause. She actually didn't.

"Erm...No…" she admitted.

"There you go. I'll bet you just don't like me." He gave her a sad look.

"Hhmmpf," Jessie muttered. "We don't need your help, Malcolm. Lucy has a map. Show it to him, Lucy."

"Okay." Lucy took it out of her Pocket and fumbled with it, undoing all the folds.

"Isn't that one of those pamphlets that you get from the train stations?" Malcolm asked, pointing at Lucy's map.

"Um...I don't remember," Lucy said. "I'm pretty sure that's where I got it."

"Ah. I see." He nodded. "Well, those are all well and good, but the freebie maps are only a little helpful. They show train routes, but other than that, they're pretty general. I have a more detailed map. Why don't we use that instead?"

Jessie leaned over to Lucy and whispered, "Since when did we decide that _he_ was coming along?"

"You're being unfair," Lucy complained.

"This building here is a self-storage," Malcolm said, jabbing a thumb at the wall he leaned against. "I have a little space rented out in there. That's where you'll find my map and some bus tokens. Could you grab them real quick? We'll be on our way after that."

Lucy did a thumbs-up. "Sound like a plan."

Malcolm tossed a key to Jessie. She caught it, but gave him a weird look.

"Unit #14," Malcolm explained. "And don't pick through the other stuff."

"Why can't you get it yourself?"

Malcolm put his arm around Lucy's shoulders and smiled. "We're two friends who'd like to reminisce. It's been a while since we talked."

Jessie rolled her eyes, but complied. She pushed past the metal door Malcolm stood next to and entered the building. Inside, the self-storage was drab, mostly empty, and poorly-lit. Graffiti splattered the bare walls. It was a gaping concrete space, with several rows of metal storage units. It looked like the perfect stage for a zombie encounter in the apocalypse.

A small tag assigned each storage unit a number. Jessie hunted around for unit #1, then went up and down the rows looking for #14. She found it after a few tries. There was a built-in padlock on the door. Jessie stuck the key in the hole and twisted it to the right.

"Lefty-locky, righty...um...I guess they don't have a rhyme for that," she said. Her voice echoed in the empty room. The lock jangled and did not open. Jessie grunted in frustration. She tried unlocking the unit again. It didn't work. Figures. Maybe Malcolm gave her the wrong key. She threw it aside in displeasure. It clinked on the bare concrete ground.

Jessie had just tossed the key aside when she heard a scream from the alleyway. It was a shrill, girly scream, sounding an awful lot like Lucy. Jessie dropped the box and ran back outside, practically kicking the door open in her haste. She screeched to a stop in the alleyway. And she did not like what she saw.

Malcolm had Lucy caught in a headlock. Despite her struggling, he had an iron grip. Her screams were muffled behind the white cloth he pressed to her nose and mouth. It was the cloth he'd carried on his belt. It must have been drugged with something, because eventually Lucy stopped squirming and slumped in Malcolm's arms.

"What are you doing?!" Jessie shouted at him. "You poisoned her! Why would you do that?"

"Quit your crying. It's just a little chloroform. She's only knocked out. Geez."

"You big jerk! I trusted you!"

"Wow. I guess you really are just as gullible as her. And I thought only the blond ones were dumb."

Jessie whisked out her sword and ran at Malcom. She didn't know what this creep wanted with Lucy, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Just as quickly, Malcolm whipped out a weapon of his own, forcing Jessie to halt in her tracks. It was a small object of black metal in a bent shape, with a blunt barrel. There was a hole in the barrel, and he had it directed right at Jessie's head. Malcolm pressed back a tiny lever with his thumb, producing a sinister clicking sound.

"Yeah, you'd better not take another step," Malcolm growled. "Know what this is, Jessie?"

"Some kind of weapon?" Jessie had made a brave rush in, but this unknown weapon pointed at her gave her pause.

"It's called a gun. The slugs this bad boy shoots can move a lot faster than a person with a sword. So unless you don't believe me and want me to demonstrate, I'd suggest putting the sword down and doing what I say, yeah?"

"I'm not scared of your 'slugs.' I'm wearing armor."

Malcolm scowled, shifted the gun barrel slightly to the side, and pulled the trigger. That tiny action produced an explosion of noise and a flare of fire from the gun barrel. Jessie recoiled and covered her ears. When the sound faded, ribbons of smoke leaked out of the barrel, and a glass window behind Jessie sported a fresh bullet hole.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did that hurt your ears?" Malcolm asked with a chuckle. "It takes a little getting used to. Thing's pretty scary, isn't it? Seeing what that did to a window, can you imagine what that can do to a person? From what I heard, the slugs carry enough power to pierce armor if you shoot from a close range. Like, for instance, part of the length of an alleyway."

Jessie gulped. Malcolm had the gun barrel trained on her again. And this time, she didn't doubt his marksmanship. She cringed; tally it up to three betrayals since they landed in the Genderbent World. Was there _anyone_ she could trust in this stupid dimension?

"Put the sword away or I'll shoot," he threatened.

Jessie sheathed her weapon.

"That's more like it. You and Lucy are coming with me now, yeah? There's something I'd like you ladies to tell me."

 **A/N: Eesh, not really my best work. Why is this arc so hard to write? Grraarragh.**


	21. Identity Crisis

**And now, for the real 21st chapter…**

Jessie had been pondering what her first line dealt to Lucy would be, once the blond girl woke up from her chloroform-induced nap. Currently, the two girls were tied to wooden chairs with tough nylon rope. Their arms were pulled behind the back of the chairs and tied at the wrists. Their ankles were bound, too, and a few coils of rope kept their torsos lashed to the chairs. They sat a few feet apart, facing each other, inside a dark and grungy room. Malcolm watched them from across the room, as he sat on a stool and cleaned his handgun.

"Are _all_ of your friends backstabbing jerks?" Jessie growled at Lucy when the girl finally came to.

"I didn't know he was going to do this!" Lucy said, her voice high-pitched and whiny.

"Now look at the mess we're in! Who knows what that creep wants?"

"Jessie, I'm scared."

Okay, it was hard to stay mad at Lucy when she was scared. "I know, I know. We'll figure some way out of this. I've been in worse situations."

"How heartwarming," Malcolm commented blandly as he watched their conversation. He opened a package of ammo. "Shall I sit here and wait for you two dips to figure out what I want, or should I just tell you? It's kind of fun to watch you argue."

"Sicko!" Jessie sneered at him.

"Sticks and stones," he responded.

"I'm never listening to your ideas again," Jessie said to Lucy.

Her head drooped. "Sorry!"

"Don't be so harsh with her," Malcolm said mockingly. "After all, isn't she supposed to be your friend?"

"What do you want from us, creep?"

Malcolm crossed his arms. "Easy. A set of enchanted flint and steel. The kind that can open portals to other dimensions, not just the Nether."

"Not happening, buster." Jessie stared daggers at him.

"I mean, who wouldn't want that awesome little trinket? So powerful! Using that, you have the power to jump from world to world as you please! Think of the opportunities!"

"Like getting away from the law? I'm getting the feeling that you and the law aren't exactly friendly."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I've done some things that weren't exactly legal. Big deal."

"Did you know about that?" Jessie glared at Lucy.

The blond girl shook her head. "Uh-uh."

"Look, if you two cooperate, this is going to be a lot easier." Malcolm stood up. "Just answer my questions and do what I say, and life will go on."

"Yeah, but the magic flintensteel is rare," Lucy said.

Jessie gave Lucy a dirty look.

"What?"

" _WHY_ would you tell him that? You're giving him an advantage!"

"I'm helping him?" Lucy asked tearfully. "Oh, no! Does this mean I'm an accomplice? Am I gonna get in trouble for this?"

"No, Lucy. Calm down," Jessie said. "You're not an accomplice. You're not in trouble."

"She's gonna be in trouble—both of you are going to be in trouble—if I don't start hearing some answers." Malcolm tested the grip on the handle of his handgun.

"Put that gun away," Lucy pleaded. "It's making me nervous."

"You won't have to be nervous if you cooperate."

Lucy shuddered. "Please don't hurt us. What do you want from us?"

"I just want you two to answer a few questions. That's all."

Jessie was going to say "Okay, shoot," as clearance to ask his questions, but that made a very unfortunate pun, given their situation. The last thing she wanted was for Malcolm to take that instruction literally.

Instead, she said, "All right, ask your dumb questions."

He started to pace around the room, running his fingers over the length of the gun barrel. "As I said before, I want that enchanted flint and steel. I know one of you two has it, or at least has connections to it."

Jessie and Lucy shared a nervous but knowing glance. They _both_ had connections to an enchanted flint and steel, but they couldn't let Malcolm know that, or that he needed two steels to light the portal.

He continued, "So, tell me. Where is it?" At this point, he was standing in the space between the chairs.

Lucy bit her lip, then wrinkled her nose at him. "I don't have to tell you."

"Actually, you kinda do."

"You won't get me to say a word."

"Really?" Malcolm perked an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Lucy tilted her chin up and closed her eyes in defiance.

Her eyes blinked back open very quickly when she felt cold metal touch her forehead. She looked up in dry panic at the gun barrel pressed to her skull.

"Now are you so sure?" Malcolm's mouth was curled up in a half-smirk, half-snarl. He turned his head and glared at Jessie. "I hope she talks. Blood and yuck is a pain to clean up."

Lucy's resolve melted like wet paper. "Jessie has the portal key! She has it in her Pocket! Just take it, just take it. Please don't hurt anyone."

" _Lucy!_ "

"I'm sorry, Jessie! I'm so sorry!" Lucy sobbed. "I'm scared! I don't want anyone to get shot."

"Now that's more like it." Malcolm withdrew the gun.

Lucy's shoulders relaxed. She sighed.

Then Malcolm turned to a fidgeting Jessie. "All right. Hand over the enchanted flint and steel. Lucy told me it's in your Pocket."

"In case you haven't noticed, I can't reach my Pocket at the moment." Jessie tugged at the bonds on her wrists to illustrate her point.

Malcolm grunted and untied the ropes on Jessie's wrists. "All right. Take the portal key out of your pocket. Don't try anything funny, or I'll fire." He gripped the handgun.

Jessie gritted her teeth. She questioned the possibility of lashing out with her diamond sword instead of getting the key as Malcolm wanted. Could she stab him with it before he pulled the trigger?

"It's loaded and ready to fire," Malcolm said, almost as if he could read her thoughts. "I'll pull the trigger long before you can whip that stupid sword out."

Jessie moved slowly on purpose. She wanted to move just slowly enough to waste time and make Malcolm angry without seeming deliberate. She removed one piece of the portal key, the steel bit, and tossed it on the ground at Malcolm's feet.

"Now the other half," he growled.

She dug the flint part out of her Pocket with all the speed of cold molasses. She gripped it in her hand, running her finger along the sharp edge. Before swords were invented, people used flint rocks as knives...no...that wouldn't work. If her sword wasn't quick enough, neither would a flint knife be. She grimaced and tossed the flint next to the steel.

"See, it's better when you cooperate," Malcolm said as he swept the flintensteel off the floor. Then he pulled Jessie's hands behind her back and tied them again. Jessie grunted in frustration as he did it. He knew she was going to try something daring.

"There. You have your stupid flintensteel. Can you let us go now?" Jessie tried to mask her anger (and anxiety!) over losing her enchanted flint and steel.

Malcolm turned the flint and steel pieces over his hands, studying their magical blue glow. "Why sure...after you tell me where the second flint and steel is. I'll be needed two of those bad boys for the portal."

Jessie's jaw dropped. "How did you know you needed two flint and steel sets to light this world's portal?"

Malcolm rolled his eyes, incredulous. "Oh, come on, Jessie! How dumb are you to think I don't? I've been living here my whole life. I hung out with Lucy and her stupid friends. You think I wouldn't have have picked up on that little detail somewhere along the line?"

Jessie snarled out something unintelligible in her frustration and rocked back and forth on her chair.

"So, are you two ladies going to tell me where the second set is, or will I have to use _other means_ of getting that information?"

"Lucy, we can't let this creep escape to the Portal Network," Jessie warned her friend.

"Jesse isn't even anywhere near here. I couldn't give Malcolm the flint and steel even if I wanted to." As soon as the words dropped out of Lucy's mouth, she regretted them. "Oh crap."

Malcolm chuckled. "Oh-ho, so your friend Jesse...the other Jesse...has a portal key? Well now. I guess I'll have to float your friend an offer he can't refuse."

He crossed over to a table lit by a bare lightbulb. Upon the table sat a blue box with a dumbbell-shaped apparatus resting on top. It was a telephone, of course. Malcolm picked up the receiver and dialed a number.

"Who are you calling?" Jessie questioned, eyes narrowing. "And what's this 'offer' you're talking about?"

"We're about to see. Which does Jesse value more—that trinket or the lives of his friends?"

* * *

"Wow, look at that," Ivor commented, glancing up at the neon sign over the entrance. "The Horticulture Club really is a thing."

"I'm just glad we didn't get double-crossed again," Lukas said. "I was really upset when Oliver tricked us."

They had followed Lucy's directions and found the Horticulture Club building as promised. It was an old townhouse converted into a small business. A few stodgy silver cars were parked on the street outside it, bearing bumper stickers that either gushed about grandchildren or said snappy slogans about being a senior. The club had a lawn, which bloomed with beds of perfectly tended flowers. A line of stepping stones led up to the porch.

They stepped up onto the porch. The boards creaked under their armored feet. Ivor rapped on the door. A few seconds later, the door creaked open and an elderly woman glared back at them. Her hair was white and curly, her dress was pink and floral, and her apron was smattered with potting soil.

"What can I do for you people?" she asked. "Oh, do you want to join? We were just about to start a discussion on the best technique for arranging a zinnia display."

"Um...No…" Petra stammered. "We were looking for someone. Is she here?"

"Who are you looking for?" the old woman questioned.

"Someone named Ivory," Lukas said. Ivor cast a sideways glance; the name similarity was awkward. He couldn't be too disappointed, though, he reasoned; after all, Jessie and Jesse's names sounded exactly alike. _That_ would be annoying to deal with.

Speaking of Jessie, Ivor wondered how she was doing. Had she and Lucy found this Peter character yet? He hoped she hadn't gotten lost in the city on her way.

His thoughts were interrupted when the old woman turned and shouted to her friends inside the club. "Ivory! There are two dumb kids and some old coot who want to talk to you!"

"Tell them I'm busy, Ethel!" Ivory shouted from within the club. Her voice was cranky-sounding and loud just like Ivor's, except obviously more feminine.

"But we need to talk to her right now," Petra said. "It's super important."

"What could this 'super important' thing possibly be?" Ethel tilted up a haughty nose at them. "Certainly not more important than our Saturday meeting."

Petra looked over to Ivor for help.

"Because...um...I brought her flowers!" Ivor said out of the blue. "I wanted to give her some flowers."

He produced a fistful of gardenias from his Pocket. Petra didn't know why he had them, and she didn't feel like asking. He probably picked them from the flowerbeds when Ethel wasn't looking.

"Ah, I see. I didn't know Ivory had a beau. I'm sorry. Here, come on in." Ethel ushered them inside. "Oh, but trim the stems! And find a vase full of clear water for them. You look like you just tore them out of the ground." She shuddered, then scuttled away into some other room off the main den.

With Ethel gone, the threesome turned their attention to Ivory. She was an elderly woman, with the same long black hair as Ivor. She wore an olive-colored dress that strongly resembled his robe. She sat on a high-backed chair, with seed packets and potion recipes strewn on the floor around her. She was reading a book on floral alternatives to potion ingredients like Blaze powder and rabbit feet.

Ivor just stopped and stared at his female doppelganger. "Um...I'm not sure what to make of this."

"Me neither!" Ivory said, still looking at her book. "Crushed tulip bulbs as a replacement for Ghast tears! Fah! Now who would honestly believe that?"

"Ma'am, not to be rude, but we need your help," Lukas spoke up.

"What do you want?" Ivory glanced up and squinted at them.

"Uh...Um...Enchanted flint and steel!" Lukas blurted. "Do you know about a flint and steel that's been enchanted so it can light special portals?"

"Well, of course I do," Ivory said. "Jesse has one. It lights portals to other dimensions. Not merely the Nether or the End. Entirely new worlds. It's really quite fascinating. I'd love a chance to study it."

The threesome blew out a big sigh of relief. Finally, someone who understood that they were from another dimension!

Ivory squinted at them again. "You people are strangers. Why do you seem so familiar?"

Petra took off her helmet. "Come again?"

"Young lady, you remind me of Jesse's friend Peter. I mean, he's a boy and you're a girl, but you have the same red hair and spicy attitude. What's more, he wears a blue bandanna just like yours. The resemblance is uncanny. Intriguing.

"And you, blond boy." She pointed at Lukas. "You remind me of Lucy. She even puts as much product in her hair as you do."

Lukas defensively reached up and stroked his hair.

Ivor and Ivory met gazes. At first their expressions were surprised, then confused, then mildly disgusted.

"What's going on here?" Ivory demanded of Ivor.

Ivor stammered, "Uh...Um…"

There was another round of pounding on the door. Ivor, Lukas, and Petra looked at each other quizzically. They shrugged, none of them knowing who was at the door. Ethel, who had just sat down to mend her gardening gloves, groaned and tossed the gloves on a table of planters.

"Who is it _now_?" she grumbled as she shuffled over to answer it. She had barely opened it when two teenaged boys suddenly blasted inside the club, wide-eyed and talking over each other.

One wore a purple T-shirt, a black jacket, and black shorts. His flame-colored hair was hardly tamed by a blue bandanna wrapped around his head. The other wore a blue T-shirt and patched-up pants (which were held up by yellow suspenders.) He was dark-skinned and black-haired, just like Jessie.

"Ivory! Ivory!" the two boys shouted in a panic. "Help!"

"Jesse? Peter?" Ivory immediately stood up and cast her book aside. "What's the matter?"

"I told you that Lucy's friend Malcolm was a bum!" Peter shouted.

"What are you talking about?"

"We got a phone call from him—" Jesse babbled.

"—And he threatened us," Peter said.

"He's got Lucy…"

"...And he's holding them hostage!"

"My enchanted flint and steel or their lives!" Jesse clutched his own set of flint and steel. It was orange.

" _What?"_ Ivory thundered. "How is that possible?"

"Waitwaitwaitwait," Lukas said, voice rising with anxiety. "Jessie went with Lucy. If Lucy was taken hostage by Malcolm... _where's Jessie?_ "

"Jessie wouldn't let Malcolm kidnap Lucy without a fight," Ivor said. "That's not the Jessie I know. She's either kidnapped along with Lucy or…" The other possibility was terrible, so Ivor broke off and let it go unmentioned.

"No, no, no, no…" Lukas said. "Please, no…"

"What were his demands?" Ivory asked.

"I told you," Jesse said. "He wants us to give him the flint and steel, or else Jessie and Lucy are gonna get it."

"Don't give him the flint and steel." Ivory pointed a scolding finger at Jesse. "You can't go along with his demands. It's not the advisable thing to do."

Peter suddenly yelled and threw his hands up in the air. "Screw the advisable thing! This is two girls' lives were talking about. We need to shoot over to wherever that creep is holed up and stop him."

Lukas, Petra, Jesse, and Ivor looked at Ivory. "He's got a point. We can't afford to mess around in this situation."

Ivory clasped her hands. "That he does. Pete, did Malcolm tell you where to deliver the flint and steel?"

Peter nodded.

"My van is parked outside. Take us there."

* * *

It rained heavily as Peter blasted Ivory's silver van through the Moog City streets. His grip on the steering wheel was so tight that his knuckles were turning white. Ivory sat shotgun, reminding him to use the turn signal and to pull into the first available lane. The remaining four were crammed into the backseat.

"Would you settle down?" Jesse asked Petra. She was seated next to him in the way-back, where there was no space between his seat and hers. She seemed on edge, squirming and wrestling with her seatbelt.

"Second time riding in a car, Jesse," Petra said. "At least this one's safer than Tiberius's C.A.R...I hope..."

"Who?"

"Never mind."

"I'm going to flay the living hide off that good-for-nothing tramp," Peter snarled. "I warned Lucy he was no good. I told her to stay away from him. I told _him_ to buzz off. I warned them both, and look what happened."

"Peter, it's the six of us versus the one of him," Jesse reasoned.

"I'm just worried about Lucy, okay?" He glanced at his friend in the backseat, using the rearview mirror.

"And I'm worried for Jessie!" Lukas was gnawing on his fingernails in his anxiety. "If Malcolm hurts her…" He clenched his fists. Normally Lukas wasn't the violent type, but this situation was a game changer.

Jesse was still talking to Peter. "I know you do. Just don't worry, okay? That won't solve anything."

After a few minutes, they pulled into the parking lot at the foot of a decrepit hotel. It was fenced by chain-link. A few other cars were parked in the lot. A payphone booth stood at one end of the lot.

"We're here," Peter said, shutting off the engine. "Now let's give that rat a piece of our minds."

"Cool your jets," Jesse said as he climbed out of the car. "We have to wait first."

While the others exited the van, Jesse took out his enchanted flint and steel. It glowed bright orange in the waning daylight. He paced on the ground a little, considering it, then walked over to a tree in a planter near the hotel building. The group had discussed their plan of action on the car ride here.

"I still don't think it's a good idea. What if he just runs off with it?" Lukas asked. He and the rest of the group had caught up with Jesse.

"The punk's not going to run off with it," Peter said. "Not if I can do something about it." He flexed a bicep.

Jesse bent down and wedged the flintensteel into the dirt in the planter. "There. One set of flint and steel, delivered to this hotel at sundown, just like the ransom demanded."

"Now what?" Ivor, who wasn't quite on the same page as everyone, asked.

"Now we wait." Jesse withdrew from the planter. "Find some hiding places, guys. Time for an old-fashioned stakeout."

With that instruction, everyone scattered. Ivor and Ivory ran back and took shelter behind Ivory's van. Petra ducked into a thicket of shrubbery and was promptly joined by Peter. Lukas and Jesse crouched behind a Dumpster by the door.

Crouched in their hiding places, they waited an agonizing sun hung low on the horizon. As day started to fade into night, the streetlights flicked on. Jesse started to doze off, until Lukas jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow.

"Huh?"

"Stay awake. He could be coming any minute now."

Night finally fell, cloaking the world in darkness. Just the sort of darkness suited for doing evil deeds that must be hidden. Malcolm came slinking out of the hotel building, sneaking around because he knew he was up to no good.

Petra heard leaves rustle as Peter tensed up.

Malcolm glanced around the seemingly empty parking lot, then crossed over to the planter. He chuckled, satisfied, when he saw the glowing orange trinket half-buried in the dirt. He pulled it out and dusted it off.

And that was the cue.

"RRRYAAAH!" Peter war-cried as he exploded from his hiding place. Malcolm, startled by the sudden noise, turned and gawked. It was just the delay needed for Peter to catch Malcolm in a flying tackle. The two teens crashed to the ground, a flurry of fists and kicking feet.

The others came rushing from their posts as well, gathering into a gaggle of people in the lot.

"Peter! Be careful, he's got a gun!" Jesse hung back, not sure if it was a good idea to join the skirmish.

"What the Nether? Get off me!" Malcolm snarled, throwing punches at Peter's jaw and neck. Peter tried to grab Malcolm's wrist, to wrestle the gun away from him. It wasn't working. Malcolm kept his hand clear of Peter's reach.

"Oh, geez." Lukas bit his fingernails, frightened.

"Crazy hick! You're asking to get shot!" Malcolm socked Peter in the jaw, then tried to shove the boy off him. There was such a tussle, though, that he couldn't get a clear enough aim to fire. So he resorted to using his fists instead.

"Peter needs backup," Petra said, and drew her sword. "Does anyone else have weapons?"

Lukas had a stone sword and so did Ivor, but no-one from this dimension had any weapons.

"Swords went out of vogue years ago," Ivory explained. "They're considered obsolete, now that guns have replaced them as the main mode of weaponry."

"Obsoleteness is relative!" Petra remarked. "We're in a bit of a _situation_ here."

Peter and Malcolm were still exchanging blows when the threesome equipped with weapons rushed in to help. They made a brave run in, but then Malcolm accidentally fired off his gun in the midst of the struggle. It missed hitting anyone (ricocheting and hitting one of the hotel windows instead) but the noise and zinging bullet were enough to startle Petra, Lukas, and Ivor.

"Whoa!" Lukas exclaimed.

"Next time I won't miss!" Malcolm growled at the blond kid as he blocked a punch from Peter. He kicked up and kneed Peter in the gut, almost offhandedly.

"Lukas!" Peter groaned through the pain of the gut attack. "Quick, get inside that hotel and save Lucy! And Jessie! They're still trapped in there!"

Lukas nodded and ran to the hotel doors. He gasped and dodged when he heard a gunshot behind him. The glass panes in the doors suddenly cracked, just as he was about to push them open. Malcolm's aim was improving.

"Holy crap!" Lukas ducked inside and slammed the doors shut again, before Malcolm could take another shot. The glass in the doors cracked again. Lukas sprinted down the halls of the hotel, in a desperate search for Lucy and Jessie.

Meanwhile, Peter finally caught hold of Malcolm's wrist. Pressing his knee into Malcolm's gut, he used the other hand to punch that stupid weapon out of the goon's hand. The gun skidded across the pavement. Malcolm reached for it, but Peter batted his arm away. Malcolm spewed obscenities as his weapon remained out of reach.

"Gotcha!" Peter taunted. "Unarmed! What are you going to do now?"

"I'm gonna take it right back," Malcolm snarled. Then he threw a lucky right hook at Peter, downing the boy. He made a dash to retrieve his weapon.

"Heck no!" Peter caught him in another tackle from behind. They slammed into the asphalt, with the gun just out of Malcolm's reach. Peter tried to catch Malcolm's arms in a hammerlock, but his foe was agile and wormed free of Peter's grip. Ivor helped by kicking the gun further away from the aggressor.

Just then, Lukas emerged from the hotel, with Lucy and Jessie at his heels. He'd found them, thank goodness. There had been much expressed gratitude, hugging, and crying when Lukas rescued them.

"You found them?" Petra called to him.

"Yeah! They were tied to chairs and everything. I had to cut their ropes." Lukas stroked Jessie's hair out of her face and dusted off her shoulder armor. "Are you OK? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Jessie replied. "Don't fuss over me."

"I need a hand!" Peter cried out, still wrestling an incredibly resistant Malcolm. "He's too strong!"

"We're not going to be able to subdue him on our own," Lucy said to Jessie. "We have to call the police."

"The who?"

"Good people. They work for the city. They catch people who break the law and put them in jail where they won't cause a problem. Quick, you have to call them."

"How do I do that?"

"Look, there's a phone booth over there, in this parking lot. Hop inside and call the cops. They'll come."

"Are you sure?"

Lucy gasped as Peter took a punishing punch to the face. "Yes, I'm sure. GO!"

Jessie didn't waste any more time after that. She sprinted to the end of the parking lot, where the phone booth stood. She swung open the little glass door and climbed inside.

Inside the phone booth, there was just one telephone hooked to the wall (it was green.) Two signs were posted to the wall next to it, one asking for an iron piece for each call and the other posting a list of emergency phone numbers. Jessie paid attention to them. She popped an iron nugget, one that Petra had given her earlier, in the slot.

"What number is the police?" she mused as she scanned the list of emergency contacts. She was pretty sure she found it, so she started pressing number keys to dial. First number was the 9. Then she hit the 1. And the 1 again. She lifted the receiver to her ear, listening to the ringing on the other end.

Someone picked up the phone. "Moog City Police Department. What's your emergency?"

Jessie screamed into the receiver, telling the operator everything about the situation and gave a location where it was taking place. When she was done, there was a slight pause as the operator recovered from the screaming.

Then the operator said, "We'll be over there as fast as we can. Hold tight."

"I'll try," Jessie said, before hanging up. She ran out of the phone booth. There was no telling how long it might be before the police came, so she and her friends would have to hold down the fort until then.

Peter and Malcolm were still fighting. Since they were an even match, both boys were landing lots of hits on each other. No-one could get close enough to help Peter. Malcolm kept kicking away anyone who tried to intercede. They couldn't use their swords, either, because it was impossible to strike at Malcolm without running the risk of harming Peter as well.

"Peter!" Lucy cried. "Oh gosh...we have to help him."

"We're trying," Petra said. She ran at the fighting teens, only to get kicked in the knees by Malcolm as she approached. Petra recoiled and stumbled back.

"Can't you throw a potion?" Jessie asked Ivor.

The alchemist shook his head. "If I try, I might hit Peter along with Malcolm."

Many minutes passed, but they felt like hours. By now, Peter and Malcolm were striking each other hard enough to draw blood. Jessie had never seen a villain resist so violently before. Not even Cassie Rose had been this combative when Jessie tackled her in her lair. Ironically, this fight was also over an enchanted flint and steel. What was with this trinket, that it made people desperate enough to kill over it?

At last, a shrieking siren filled the air. It grew louder; whatever was making it was approaching the parking lot. Red and blue light washed over the lot and the people standing therein. A black car roared into the lot and pulled to a stop a few feet away. It was a black car, with "MPD" painted in white on the hood. A bar of flashing red-and-blue light was mounted on its roof. The police car's engine fell silent, and the doors swung open as the occupants exited. They were a man and woman in official blue uniforms, bearing utility belts with handguns in holsters.

When Malcolm saw the cops arrive, he froze. He was caught in the unfortunate pose of kneeling on top of Peter, holding Peter by the shirt collar in preparation to punch him again. The handgun lay on the ground a stone's throw away.

"Oh, crap," he said, eyes wide. "This looks really bad, doesn't it?"

"Yes. Yes, it does," the female officer replied.

Peter heaved a giant sigh of relief. He had bruises on his face, one of his teeth had been knocked out, and his nose was bleeding.

"Am I under arrest?" Malcolm squeaked.

"Quite possibly," said the male officer. "Stand up. Hands behind your head."

Malcolm didn't dare disobey. The cop snapped a pair of handcuffs on his wrists.

"So can you explain what happened, young lady?" the female officer asked Jessie.

Jessie showed the lady cop her wrists, which were a bit chafed from the ropes. "Malcolm kidnapped my friend Lucy and I. He was holding us hostage for ransom. He stole my flint and steel. He threatened to kill us if Jesse didn't deliver the ransom. Lukas went into the hotel to rescue us, and he said that he and the others planted the ransom at the hotel and staked out until Malcolm came to get it. Then Peter tackled Malcolm to stop him and get that handgun away from him. Malcolm tried to fire at Peter with the gun until it got kicked out of his hand. Then he resorted to punching and kicking. After Lukas got us out of the hotel, I called the police. And that's what happened." Jessie breathlessly related her story, trying to piece together all the details. For clarity, whenever she mentioned a name, she pointed to its corresponding person.

"She's lying!" Malcolm howled.

"We'll see about it," the officer responded. "For now, we definitely know that you're charged with assault. You've been fighting, and you definitely did a number on that young man. You're coming with us tonight, son."

First Malcolm was forced to give up the enchanted flint and steel that he had taken from Jessie. Then he was herded into the cop car. To his credit, he didn't resist, figuring that the jig was up anyway. Lucy ran over to Peter, helped him to his feet, and started to fuss over him.

"Oh, you poor guy!" she whimpered, wiping his bloody nose with a hanky. "I am so, so sorry!"

"At least we got that rat off the streets," Peter said. He ran his tongue over the gap between his teeth. Then, to Jessie's surprise, he wrapped his arms around Lucy for a hug.

"Oh!" Lucy exclaimed.

"I'm glad you're okay. That was scary."

"If you're all right, I'm all right." Lucy melted into his embrace. "Your tooth gap looks cute. Honest."

"Thanks. Aww, your hair got messed up." Peter wound one of her blond curls around his finger.

" _No touching my hair!"_

"...Sorry."

The others watched this little reunion unfold, but they didn't do so quietly. Jesse fawned over how cute it was. Petra rolled her eyes, pretending to be so above it. Ivor picked the orange flint and steel off the ground (it had gone flying when Peter tackled Malcolm) and handed it back to Jesse. Lukas's primary concern at the moment was checking to make sure that Jessie was okay. She was fine, she kept telling him, just a little shaken up.

When the officer gave Jessie the blue flint and steel back, she stuffed it in her Pocket right away. Then she went over to talk to Jesse.

"So you're Jesse, huh?" Jessie asked.

"Yep. And you're Jessie?" he responded.

"Uh-huh."

There was a slight pause. "This is...kinda weird."

"I'll say."

"We need help getting home," she explained. "In order to light the portal for this world, we need two sets of flint and steel." She eyed the orange pair in his hands.

A slow smile crossed his face. "I think we can make that work. Come on, let me show you the portal."

Jessie forgot that the gravity was wonky in the genderflipped world. She had walked plainly through the portal on that side, assuming that it was going to be a nice, smooth exit to the Portal Hallway. Like walking through a doorway. Instead, she found herself somehow army-crawling through it, as if it was flat on the ground. She scrabbled and scrambled, trying to hoist herself out of the portal. She finally accomplished it and stood up.

Immediately she fell off the Portal Hallway wall, landing spreadeagled on the floor. It took her a second to re-coordinate, adjusting to the change.

Ivor, Lukas, and Petra emerged from the portal in the same manner. Likewise, they fall off the wall and landed on the floor around Jessie. It was up there with the sheep from the Twilight Forest World, in terms of surreal exits from the portals.

Definitely one of the weirdest worlds so far. Jessie hoped that their next try would be better.

Yeah, it probably wouldn't, but it was worth hoping.

 **A/N: And Arc Five is a wrap! Thanks for coming along. For the next arc, I'm combining the Ice Lakes World and Fire World into the same realm. It's an important part of the plot.**

 **And good news! I already have the first two chapters of the next arc written and ready to go! IN YOUR FACE, WRITER'S BLOCK!**


	22. Brr, Ice Lakes

**Welcome to the final arc of Portal Party.**

Jessie stumbled around the Portal Hallway, a bit disoriented after leaving the tilted world. Gravity felt a little wonky. A quick glance at her friends told her that they were having the same problems. Lukas suggested that they take a quick nap to refresh, and of course no-one dissented. After about half an hour, they were ready for action again. Jessie scratched the Tilted World off her list of portals. Then it was, once again, time to choose the new portal.

"Petra is choosing this time," Jessie said, stuffing the paper in her Pocket. "I just checked our roulette."

"Mmkay," Petra said. Then she sighed. "I'm getting sick of this. Not that these adventures haven't been fun or anything, but I'm really tired of portal-hopping."

"I know, I know," Jessie said. "But hang in there, sister. I think we're getting closer to the right portal. I can feel it."

"Homesickness is a very poignant emotion," Ivor said. "Back in my days in the Old Order, I used to feel it when we went on long journeys. Being caught in a place wherein you know you don't belong is one of the worst feelings in the world."

"That must've been how Cassie Rose felt," Lukas said, thinking back to the serial killer. "She'd do anything, literally anything, to get back home."

"Too bad things had to end the way they did." Jessie traced her foot on the floor. "I don't know why she didn't just ask her friends for help."

The others shrugged.

"Who knows. Anyway, we should focus on getting ourselves home. Every portal we pick, even if it's the wrong one, brings us one step closer to going home for real." She nodded at Petra. "Alright, pick a portal. Pick your favorite."

"It's been a while since it was my turn, wasn't it? The last time I picked a portal was...ugh...the monsters and ghosts world." Petra shuddered as she walked down the hallway. "Worst world ever. Um...let's see...aha! This one looks promising."

She stopped before, and pointed at, a portal built of white quartz pillars. Gold blocks fringed it. The goo inside was white.

"That one looks like the Twilight Forest portal," Lukas said as the others walked up to it.

"But the Twilight Forest portal is way down that way!" Petra pointed down the length of the hallway where, sure enough, the portal they had used before stood. It even had clumps of wool from the sheep scattered on the floor.

"Oh. Yeah. I guess so," Jessie glanced back and forth between them. "Aw geez, they look exactly the same. That's so dumb."

"When we're finished with this portal-hopping nonsense," Petra growled, "we're gonna give those Old Builders a piece of our minds. We've wasted so much time in their stupid hallway…"

"Yes, but there is something we need to do first," Ivor piped up.

"What's that?"

"Have an ADVENTURE!" Ivor launched himself at the portal, falling through the white glop. Petra watched him dive in, then turned to her friends and facepalmed.

Jessie chuckled. "He's like the weird dad I can't decide if I always wanted or never wanted."

* * *

As soon as Jessie stepped out of the portal, a cold, sharp wind slammed into her. A driving snowfall blasted through the air, rendering everything farther than five feet away a gray blur. Jessie's hair was swept off her shoulders and blew across her face, making it even harder to see. She hardly hear over the howl of the brutal wind.

"Whoa!" she gasped. "A snowstorm? Guys? Ivor? Lukas? Where are you?"

No answer. She shivered and held a hand above her eyes, trying to shield her face from the snow.

"LUKAS? IVOR? ANYONE? GUYS!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Jessie? Jessie, you there?" someone's voice shouted back. It sounded like Petra, but the wind was so noisy that it was hard to tell.

"Hang on, Petra. I'm coming! Don't move!" Jessie started in the general direction of the yelling. The force of the storm slowed her steps. But her friends couldn't have gone far, could they?

"Jessie?" Petra shouted again. "Where are you...I can't see anything in this storm!"

"Neither can I! Keep yelling so I can follow your voice."

It was a battle for every step. Snow blew at her in droves, stinging her with its tiny, icy pinpricks. The ground underfoot was ice, and her boots had little traction. More than once she stumbled, and for one awful moment she actually slipped and fell. She managed to brace herself by holding her arms out and thus prevent a facefirst fall, but it was still scary. She scrambled back to her feet and kept moving. She continued to shout for her friends, hoping they would hear over the roaring wind.

They did hear. A hand abruptly reached out of the gray blur and grabbed Jessie's wrist. The hand poked out of an olive sleeve. Ivor, of course. He held Jessie's wrist with a firm, protective grip.

"It's all right," Ivor, barely visible through the snowfall, assured her. "If you slip, I won't let you fall."

"Ivor? Do you have her?" Lukas, unseen, called.

"Yes! She's all right," he responded.

Jessie sighed, relieved. "Thanks, dad."

"Dad?" The bewilderment in Ivor's voice was palpable.

"Oops. Uh, slip of the tongue."

"Er...Indeed. But this is no place to discuss these things. We need to get out of this storm."

"How can we do that?" Petra asked. "We don't even know where we are, besides smack in the middle of a blizzard."

"This is going to sound stupid," Ivor warned, "but everyone join hands with someone else. We can't risk losing anyone in this dreadful snowstorm."

Personal dignity is quickly thrown to the curb in undesirable situations such as this one. There was a quick pause as the foursome linked hands, forming a human chain. Jessie felt a tug on her arm when they started walking; they had to move in unison. This slowed them down even more, but at least they were safer this way.

After a few more minutes, the wind finally died down somewhat. The snow stopped whipping every which way. It was clear enough to see their surroundings. The sky was overcast and gray, piled thick with snow-laden clouds. The little bit of sun that reached through the strata was muted and dull. This world was gray and cheerless, like the bleakest days of January. The ground was either solid ice or completely crusted with it. Snowdrifts broke up the monotony of the frozen ground. Apart from them, there were no other visible landmarks. The whole area was just a frosty wasteland.

"I don't like this place very much," Ivor said. His voice echoed over the pallid landscape.

"Why do I pick the portals to the really trashy worlds?" Petra complained. "This is even worse than the monster dimension. At least there, you weren't freezing your tush off and stranded in the middle of a field of ice."

Lukas tapped his foot on the ground. "At least it's solid ice."

"How is that a _good_ thing?" Jessie brushed snow off of her armored shoulders. "It's really slippery."

"Well, if it's thin ice over water, that would be problematic," Petra explained. "Did I ever tell you guys that I grew up in a snow biome?"

"Really?" Jessie didn't stop, but she slowed her march. "What was it like?"

"I always like hearing people's backstories," Ivor said with a grin. He had snowflakes caught in his beard.

"Cold, obviously. My dad owned a cabin up north...way up north, where there are no seasons. It was basically winter all year long. We lived between a pine forest and a lake. The lake was always frozen. I remember how, every morning, he'd get up at the crack of dawn and smash a hole in the ice so he could fish or scoop up some water. He'd never let me out on the ice."

"Why?"

"'Oh, no, Peets, that's cat ice,'" Petra said, imitating the gruff voice of her father. "'Not safe for little girls to walk on. It could break. Best let me handle the ice-smashing, honey.' So I'd sit on a log at the edge of the lake and watch him do it."

"Did he ever fall in?" Lukas's eyes were wide with intrigue.

"'Course not," she replied scornfully. "He'd been doing it for so long that he knew exactly where to stand so he wouldn't fall in. He was a master outdoorsman. I bet he could have built a shelter out of toothpicks and yarn if you put him up to it."

The others chuckled. Since they could see now, there wasn't a need to hold hands. Of course, had Lukas been near Jessie instead of at the front of the line, he probably would have still been holding her hand.

"How can you tell if ice is solid ice or cat ice?" Jessie asked Petra, who had become the de facto expert on snowy, wintry biomes.

"Be wary of cracks in the ice," Petra warned. "Cracked ice is weak ice."

Lukas didn't pay the comment much mind, until he looked down at his feet and saw a jagged blue crack splitting through the frozen ground. He heard a crunching sound and felt a slight shift underfoot. And then he felt the lurch of panic in his gut.

"Guys? I think I just saw a big crack in the ice…"

The other three turned. "What do you mean?"

Lukas took a step forward. "Well, I'm not sure if one break means that the ice is thin."

The crunching sound was louder this time. Lukas stopped in his tracks. Petra, Jessie, and Ivor stepped back.

More blue cracks were uncovered as the wind blew away loose snow. They ran in an irregular circle around Lukas. The floe was not solid; it shifted whenever he moved at all.

"Lukas? Are you okay?" Jessie started to walk towards him.

"Don't come over here," he said, looking down at his feet. "It's too thin for both of us."

"Can you walk over to me, then?" she asked. "That should be okay, right?"

"Um...maybe...let me try." He took a step forward. The ice groaned and crackled. A fresh fissure cut across the floe.

"Don't," Petra snapped. "Stop moving."

The ice groaned and shuddered again. Then it ceased.

"Oh, it stopped," Lukas said. "I think I'll be all ri—"

The ice floe broke in half, dropping Lukas in the water.

The frigid, dark, choppy water.

He thrashed about, shouting in panic and fighting to stay above the surface. "Help!"

"LUKAS!" Jessie screamed. She darted forward, running to him.

"Jessie, _no_!" Petra roughly shoved Jessie back.

"Hey! What the Nether are you doing, Petra?" Jessie growled as she tried to get past her friend, but Petra kept pushing her back. "Do you _want_ Lukas to drown?"

"If you run at him like that on thin ice, you'll fall in and drown, too! Let me do this."

Jessie looked at her, frightened. "What do you have in mind?"

"Keep treading water," Petra called to Lukas. "I'm coming over. Don't freak out."

She knelt, then lowered herself all the way down so that she was lying on her stomach. She army-crawled forward.

"If I spread my weight out, I'm less likely to break the ice," she explained. "Lukas, when I hold out this pole to you, I want you to grab it, okay?" She took out a wooden stick—one left over from her whittling habits—and extended it to her friend. Lukas, scrabbling for a grip on the ice, reached out and seized the end of the pole.

"Got it," he gasped.

"Good. Don't let go." Petra scooted backwards, pulling back on the pole. As she did, she towed Lukas along with it. His head was well above water, thank goodness, and his arms and torso were soon to follow. Finally, the whole of him was safely hauled up onto the ice.

"P-Petra, you're m-m-my he-hero!" he said through chattering teeth. "Thanks!" He started to rise to his feet.

She gave a start. "Get down, get down! Don't stand up yet. Crawl back to solid ground with me." Like a pair of weird snakes, Petra and Lukas slithered over to where Jessie and Ivor stood on firm ice. It wasn't until then that they finally stood up. As soon as Lukas was on his feet, Jessie glomped him in a big bear hug.

"Okay, that was _terrifying_ ," she said. "Officially my least favorite world so far and—Goodness, you're cold."

"Well, of course he's cold. We're all cold," Petra said scornfully as she dusted snow off her armor. "Is there anywhere actually warm in this blasted dimension?"

Jessie made a huffy sound, annoyed at Petra for being so short with her all of a sudden. What, was it _her_ fault that Lukas had fallen through the ice?

"Going to this stupid ice world was _your_ idea!" Jessie shot back. "Don't sling arrows at me."

"How was I supposed to know it was going to be like this?"

"I bet you could have known if you stuck your hand through the portal and noticed that it was REALLY DANG COLD on the other side! Revolutionary idea, huh?"

"At least I actually knew how to save Lukas. If it weren't for me, he'd be dead right now."

"If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be in this ice world."

"Right, and I wouldn't have to listen to your stupid voice always telling me what to do!"

"Hey, hey, hey, HEY!" Lukas said, interposing himself between them. "Stop that! The last thing we need right now is a fight."

Jessie clenched her fists, then uncurled them and sighed. "Ugh...he's right. What are we doing?"

"Yeah...Sorry, Jess. I don't know what got into me." Petra rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed.

"It's...it's okay. I understand. We're cold and lost and scared. We need to get off of this ice field and go somewhere safer."

"And warmer." Lukas rubbed his hands together, trying to make a bit of friction.

They eschewed the most risky-looking cracks in the ice, hopefully heading inland. Not only was it far safer, but there they also stood a better chance of maybe finding shelter from the weather. The heavy cloud cover made it near-impossible to tell what time of day it was. For all the four friends knew, sunset could be minutes away, and then they'd really be in trouble. The cold would be even worse at night.

At long last, they found something besides ice and snowdrifts for once. A few meters away stood a cluster of pine trees on rocky podzol. It wasn't much of anything, but at least it would block the raw wind somewhat. They walked over to the tree cluster and sheltered under the bristly boughs.

Jessie leaned against a tree, accidentally knocking a shower of snow off of a high branch. It fell on Ivor.

"Aaugh!" he yelped, then turned on Jessie. "What was that for?"

"Sorry, sorry! Didn't mean to do that!"

"Anyone have a blanket?" Lukas whimpered. His hands and ears were strawberry red from being so cold.

Jessie buried her face in her hands. "Oh, this is bad. He could get frostbite."

"Take your armor off," Petra suggested. "You're not going to get any warmer if you're caught in a big metal shell."

He fumbled with the buckles and straps on his armor. "It's no use. My fingers are too numb."

"Then let Jessie take it off."

"Did you hear that?" Ivor interrupted.

"What, wind?" Petra rolled her eyes. "We've been hearing wind this whole time."

"It sounded like footsteps on the ice. Someone else's footsteps."

"You're hearing things."

"No, I heard it, too. Uh, hang tight for a minute, Lukas," Jessie said, sitting him up against a tree trunk. "I'm gonna check it out."

She didn't need to go "check it out." The maker of the footstep noises had already arrived. And it was not friendly. The footsteps had come from a hulking mule reindeer. The varmint was the size of a bear. It stood in fight posture, tossing its neck to show off its huge rack of pointed antlers. It scraped the ice with its hoof and snorted at Jessie.

"Oh, no," Jessie groaned. "We are so not in shape for a fight." She halfheartedly got out her diamond sword, but she was so cold and weak at this point that she could hardly wield it.

The reindeer stomped the ice and bellowed. It lowered its head to use its antlers as a weapon. But before it could attack Jessie, it was interrupted by an arrow flying at it and sticking in its shoulder. The deer whirled around to engage its new attacker, a stranger running at it from the side. They shot two more arrows before finally downing the deer. It fell to the ground in a hairy, gamey heap.

The stranger rushed in, vaulted over the dead deer, and breathlessly waved hello to Jessie and her friends. "Hey! Hi! It's all right, I killed it."

"What was that thing?" Jessie stared at the dead deer. "And who are you?"

"Well gee, is that any way to thank me? I offed that crazy monster reindeer and you ask me rude questions?"

"Sorry," Jessie said, trying not to roll her eyes.

"I'm Cael. I can help you guys find civilization. There's a town not far from here." 'Cael' shifted from foot to foot. He was a male of indeterminate age. His face was so dirty that it was hard to tell what skin tone he was, and whatever he was wearing for clothes was covered by animal pelts wrapped around his body for extra warmth. He had the scraggly look of a hardluck who'd been out in the wilds for some time.

"You can?" Jessie's irritation dissolved. "Oh, super! Where should we go?"

"We can go back the way I came and then there…" Cael started explaining what route would be best for returning to whatever town he was referring to. However, he should have been paying attention to the supposedly dead reindeer behind him. No-one noticed as it stirred slightly, kicking a hoof, and then started to lift its head off the ground. They didn't even notice the noise its antlers made as they scraped against the ice.

They did notice, however, when the reindeer used that antler to impale Cael through the chest. Jessie backpedaled and shrieked at the horrific sight. Still, her shriek wasn't enough to mask the sound of Cael's agonized screaming. The reindeer reared to its feet and sharply whisked its head to the side. Cael went flying off of the antler and collided with a hard tree trunk. He crumpled to the ground in a battered heap. He lay there way too stiffly to be simply knocked out. Whether being impaled or smashing into the tree trunk was what killed him would remain a mystery.

Satisfied with killing the person who tried to kill it, the reindeer snorted and galloped away. Jessie and her friends just gaped at the gruesome scene they witnessed. This ice world was a far cry from the friendly water world they'd visited at the beginning of their adventure. This place was _hostile_.

"So much for having a guide," Petra sighed.

* * *

Jessie pulled a piece of fur tighter around her shoulders to block an incoming gust of frigid wind. She didn't know what kind of animal it had come from, but by this point, her inhibitions about that sort of thing were long gone. Considering that she and her friends had been desperate enough to pull the fur mantles off of Cael's corpse, it was safe to say that their dignity was a distant memory. It wasn't like Cael was going to need his warm furs anymore in any case, they reasoned.

Figuring that it was their best shot, the foursome had traced back the way Cael had come, figuring that they were more likely to find civilization that way. Even though the wind had died down a little more, it remained brutally cold out in the elements, and Lukas was still shuddering despite all the fluffy pelts wrapped around his body. Ivor was at least a little more insulated in his robe, but for those who were wearing armor, the weather was especially unpleasant. The metal conducted out their body heat, replacing it with shocks of cold.

For the first time in Jessie's life, she wished she had a plain old leather tunic instead of awesome armor. At least a tunic would hold in her body heat better than the Star Shield.

At long last, they found a blessed sign of civilization. Stone city walls rose up before them. Houses and ice-fishing shanties were scattered on the snow and ice immediately outside the walls. No-one was out and about in the houses or shanties, but that didn't necessarily mean that the entire city was abandoned. Maybe the people had just gone inside to escape the weather. There were signs warning "dirty foreigners" to stay outside of the town, but this group of four desperate travelers was all too happy to ignore the advisory.

"There's a gap in that wall over there," Ivor observed, pointing to a human-sized crack in the frosty wall. "We can sneak into the city through there."

Nobody, not even conscientious Lukas, brought up the fact that sneaking into this city was probably illegal. They were too cold, tired, and frantic to care. They squeezed through the gap in the wall. There was a deep snowbank on the other side, over which they had to banzai. Once that obstacle was cleared, they had successfully entered the town. It was just a sleepy settlement of wooden cottages and stone watch towers. A light snowfall had begun to tumble from the clouds, sprinkling the town with a Christmas-perfect flurry.

"Ha. We made it," Jessie said. "Now I bet we can just go around and ask someone in town for help."

She heard a squeaky gasp. It had come from a nearby random person carrying a bundle of firewood.

"Strangers! Spies!" He was so surprised that he dropped his firewood. "I must warn them." Leaving his wood on the ground, the rando scurried off.

"Who was he going to warn?" Ivor inquired.

"Who knows," Jessie said with a shrug. "Let's just find someplace where we can get out of the cold for a while. Lukas, how are you doing?"

"M-My f-fingers f-f-feel like they're g-gonna fre-freeze off," Lukas said, teeth chattering. "They've g-g-gone all n-numb."

"Crap," Jessie muttered. "He's probably got frostbite."

"He will if we can't get him warmed up."

After skulking around for a few minutes, they found a house that seemed, by all intents and purposes, abandoned. There wasn't any furniture inside and it had the musty smell of an unlived-in place. The one thing they did find inside was a wool blanket, of which Lukas was very appreciative. He wrapped his hands in its folds and crouched into fetal position on the floor. The others sat on the floor or just stood by. There they rested until evening.

Jessie was just about to drift off into dreamland when a harsh rapping on the door startled her awake. She sprang to her feet. She wasn't totally sure about opening up the door to let in whatever wanted in, so she crept up to a window and peeked through that instead. She didn't like what she saw.

A group of armored people, some of which rode atop heavy-bodied draft horses, clustered outside the door. They carried frosty weapons and wore frosty expressions.

Whoever-it-was rapped on the door again. "Ice Empire City Guard!"

"City Guard?" Lukas asked, a worried look in his blue eyes.

"Um…" Jessie wasn't sure what to do.

"A citizen has informed us of your presence, and here we have found you. You are under arrest on suspicions of spying for the Fire Empire. Come out of the house immediately."

Jessie turned back to her friends. They returned her glance with frightened stares.

"Okay...here's what," she whispered. "We don't know what these 'Ice Empire' people are like. It won't help at all for all four of us to be captured. That will make it even harder to get home."

"What do you suggest?" Ivor asked.

"There's a back door." Jessie nodded at it. "These guards don't know how many of us there are. Maybe if I turn myself in, the rest of you can escape and go get help. When I go outside through the front door, you leave through the back. Skedaddle out of here and look for someone friendly. Okay?"

"Are you sure you want to do that, Jessie?" Lukas asked. "To be led off by these strangers...alone?"

"I'll be fine, Lukas," Jessie told him, but she didn't believe her own words.

"All right," Petra said hesitantly. "Um...Stay safe, okay? We'll come back for you as soon as we can."

"Yes," Ivor agreed. "Don't tell those cretins any more than you have to."

"Okay. Thanks." Jessie faced the front door. "One, two, three—go!"

Petra and Ivor slipped out the back door. But to Jessie's dismay, Lukas followed her instead of going with them.

"What are you doing?" she hissed. "The plan was for you to leave out the back. Don't come with me!"

"I'm not leaving you behind!" he countered, grabbing her hand. "Not leaving you to fend for yourself."

Jessie wasn't sure whether to be flattered by his devotion or to clock him upside the head for being so dumb. It didn't really matter, because they both tumbled out the door and landed in the snow at the feet of the City Guard.

"Thank you for your cooperation," the head of the guard droned. "You two are under arrest on suspicions of spying. We have no records of you, and according to witnesses, you snuck into the city illegally. Highly suspect. Now come with us."

They didn't dare disobey. They stood up and offered their wrists to the guards to handcuff. The head of the guard dismounted his horse and approached them.

"Do you two have names?" he asked. He held two pairs of manacles.

"I'm Jessie. That's Lukas."

"Fair enough." He locked Lukas's wrists into the manacles first and then Jessie's. "Those don't sound like Fire Empire names, but you can never tell with spies. Come along. Don't try to run away."

The guards started to march them away. Jessie had no idea where they would be taking her and her friend, but she figured she'd better not ask.

"Sorry for not listening to you," Lukas apologized as they walked along.

"I am a little miffed. Look at the fine pickle you've gotten yourself into."

He wilted.

"But I also appreciate it. Looking at it now, I'm glad I'm not in this alone."

He smiled, despite everything. "Me, too."


	23. Deep Freeze

Night had fallen by that point, so it was near-impossible to see where they were going. The City Guard herded them into the midst of their group so that the captives would be surrounded at all times, blocking off any opening to escape. Just as Jessie suspected, the night was considerably colder than the day. Since it was hard to see, she just let her captors direct her wherever they wanted her to go. Lukas lingered at her side, shivering and rubbing his hands frantically.

It was a mindless, mechanical march. Jessie and Lukas kept their heads down and their voices silent the whole time. The guards talked to each other in low murmurs; she could not discern what they were saying. She continued to look at the ground; each breath formed a curly white cloud in the frigid air.

After a long time, the procession halted. Jessie could vaguely make out the shapes of iron fences and stone walls around them.

They had stopped because their group of City Guard had just crossed paths with another. The captains greeted each other with cheerless bows, and a discussion to merge the groups was imminent. After all, both groups had prisoners to deliver to a dungeon. So both groups converged, rearranging themselves into a large circle about their captives. There were ten other prisoners besides Jessie and Lukas: six men, three women, and one sickly child. A guard carried the sickly child. The other people skirted away from Jessie and Lukas. Jessie overheard one of the men say something about being afraid of "strangers in flashy armor."

For the first time in what seemed like hours, someone spoke. "We've brought them here. See where there's space for them." It was one of the captains, directing a subordinate. Jessie heard departing footsteps, then a jangle of bits as the captains' horses were led away to be stabled.

A sphere of light blinked on in the dark, making Jessie wince from the sudden brightness. It was a lantern held by an approaching guard, the one whom the captain had instructed. It illuminated his frosty metal armor and blue-steel helmet. He dragged a long chain on the ground, which rattled and scraped obnoxiously on the ice.

"There are eleven captives, right?" he asked his superior.

"Twelve," the captain corrected. "It was a merge of a group of ten and a group of two."

He apparently counted the prisoners, then got all exasperated when he came up short again. "Well, where's the twelfth, then?"

The answer came in the form of a coughing fit from the sick kid. Is there any sound more pathetic than that of a coughing child?

"Well, it could be eleven eventually."

Jessie thought about that comment for a second, and then the implications of it made her shudder.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" she whispered to Lukas.

"I hope not." He stuck his hands in his pockets.

Once the prisoners had been counted a third time and their number ensured as twelve, the guard went through the group and attached the captives' shackles to the chain. If they were strung together in a line, their chance of escape was reduced to a sliver. Taking hold of their chain at the front, he gave it a sharp tug, goading everyone forward.

He took them through a rusty iron gate into a courtyard area. This place was better lit; there were a few fire-pots and torches for illumination. The flames, however, were not the robust orange and gold typical of most fires. They were a feeble yellow, about the color of jaundice. Even as she walked past one, Jessie felt no rush of warmth. No heat at all. Despite being fire, the flames were surreally cold.

There was light, though. The frigid flames made for a pale buttery glow in the snowbound courtyard. It was a spacious area, covering several dozen square meters. It was mostly empty, except for a raised wooden platform at the far end. A line of soldiers stood at attention, while a domineering woman paced back and forth before them.

She was tall and taut-muscled, with dirty blonde hair and dark eyes. Her jacket was crisp, spotless, and adorned with military patches. Her high-heeled boots left neat little indents in the snow. She immediately took notice of the dozen prisoners shuffling into the courtyard and wasted no time in addressing them.

"Twelve, eh?" she asked. Her voice was precisely the firm alto Jessie had expected. "That's a nice number."

"Yes," the guard responded. "We caught these Fire Empire weaklings in our territory. Will there be enough room in the dungeons for them?"

"I would think so." Miss Military nodded. "Hmm...seven men, four women, and one child, it would seem."

"One very sick child," the soldier carrying the kid added.

"Quite. Now, before you take them away, perhaps they should better understand what is going on. Prisoners, I'm certain you are frightened. Perhaps you are angry that you were captured. Understandable, I suppose. But these are simply how things must be, eh? Yes, that is how things must be. You should not have come from your Fire Empire homeland to the territory of the Ice.

"My name is Xena, and I am the overseer. You shall be escorted to the dungeons shortly. There you will remain indefinitely. Your abilities will be utilized for the benefit of the Ice Empire. For your own safety, we would recommend not attempting to escape. It rarely goes well. If you comply with our rules, your time here will be much more calm, easy, and pleasant. Perhaps it will be shorter as well. Dissent of the rules, the rules which keep this system running smoothly, will not be tolerated."

Lukas raised his hand as well as his chains would allow.

"Yes, blond child?"

"What is the punishment if people disobey the rules?"

Xena smiled sweetly at him, then beckoned to one of the soldiers standing nearby. "Torch, please."

A torch was ignited and passed to her. Like the other fires, it burned with a weak, cold flame.

"I don't get it," Lukas said.

"Oh, you will, you will," Xena said, voice saccharine. She walked up to the wooden platform and held the torch out. Its glow pushed back the cover of shadows atop the platform and revealed…

...Four people hanging by their necks from a high beam. Each had a loop of rope tight around their throat. Their muscles were stiff. Their eyes, glassy and lifeless. Their necks, crooked. They'd been executed by hanging. They'd been punished with _death_.

Jessie's jaw dropped open in shock, and Lukas gagged. They'd never seen something like this before. No-one was ever dealt death for breaking the law back home. "Capital punishment" was absent from their vocabulary.

Xena looked back at them with an empty expression. "Does that answer your question?" She'd completely dropped her pretense of being nice.

Lukas buried his face in his hands.

"Are we going to have _trouble_ from this group?" she asked, glaring at the prisoners.

"No, no, no, no…" the people said vehemently. "Uh-uh. Not at all, ma'am."

"As it should be." Xena then turned to two stern-faced henchmen by her side. "Bataan. Dachau. Take them to their cell block. Each of you take six captives."

The group of twelve was split into halves. Luckily, Jessie and Lukas weren't separated by the division. Bataan and Dachau seemed to have a silent argument with glares and gestures, quarrelling over who was going to take which group. After a minute or two, they ostensibly came to a resolution. Dachau took one of the men, two of the women, the sick child, Jessie, and Lukas. Bataan got the rest. After checking the prisoners' chains to make sure they were secure, each henchmen marched their captives off to the dungeon.

Each captive was still bound by their shackles. Even the sick kid wore a pair of miniature cuffs. His wrists were so small that the cuffs were on his elbows instead. Dachau held the tail of the communal chain in one hand and a dim lantern in the other. The light was too weak to dispel the midnight blackness around the procession. Shadows crept across snowbanks and stone walls, forming into the outlines of monsters in Jessie's sleep-deprived imagination. Dachau was totally silent as he led his captives through a stone tunnel. He only occasionally looked back at them with a pensive expression. The tunnel tilted down slightly, leading into an underground complex.

Dachau said nothing during the march, so none of the captives dared speak either. The only peep out of them was the sick child's coughing fits. Poor fella seemed worse than before. Being out in the frosty night couldn't be good for whatever sickness he had.

Finally, Dachau directed them into a spacious carved-out room. Metal cells, looking like big iron cages, lined the walls up and down. There were about ten cages in all. Two were already occupied with a prisoner each. The doors were unlocked, the new arrivals herded inside, and then the doors were locked again. Jessie and Lukas ended up in the same cell. The sick child went into the cell across the aisle from them.

"We'll be back in the morning," Dachau said, before leaving with the other guard. They slammed the door shut in their wake and locked it.

"Don't those jokers know how to quietly close a door?" a juvenile voice piped up, from the cell adjacent to Jessie and Lukas. It belonged to a lanky boy who sat on his cot, his back against the wall. He had bright eyes, brown hair, nondescript clothes, and a half-smile. There was a strip of white cloth tied around one of his ankles. The kid didn't look any older than thirteen.

"I guess not," Jessie replied.

"I'll bet you guys are new," the kid said. "Just thrown in?"

"Yep," said Lukas.

"Bummer you got caught. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

Jessie shrugged. "The manacles hurt, but now that they took 'em off, it feels better."

"That's good. Bummer they stuffed you both in one cell. Do you think you'll have enough room?"

"We should be okay, I'd think. Thanks, um…"

"Edge. Just call me Edge."

"Alrighty then. Jessie and Lukas." She pointed to herself and then to Lukas.

"Nice to meet ya. Sorry it has to be in his dump."

There were two cots in their cell, pushed into the corners. Lukas sat on one. The springs creaked.

"Hey, my bed doesn't have a blanket!" he said, dismayed. "The hits just keep on coming…"

"Oh, that's not going to be good," Edge said. "It's too cold in the dungeon to sleep without a blanket. Here."

The teen pushed a wool blanket through the bars. Lukas grabbed it and rolled it out onto his cot.

"Thanks, kid."

"So I see you've met Edge," a man's voice said. It came from the cell on the other side of Jessie and Lukas.

"Right," Jessie said.

"Glad you could. He's a good kid. He helps us keep our chins up on the bad days."

"Who are you?"

"You can call me Archer." The man offered his hand to shake, sticking it through the bars of his cell. He looked to be about in his thirties, with a few silver threads in his greasy brown hair. His face and hands were smudged with dirt and soot, as were his humdrum work clothes. But Jessie and Lukas weren't looking at any of that. They knew it was rude to stare, but their gazes gravitated toward his neck. It was crooked, with an angry red scrape-scar ringed about it. Archer had somehow managed to survive being hanged. He wore the torn end of his noose around his neck like a morbid scarf. Just as permanent as the crookedness of his deformed neck was his confident smirk. He had a brush with death and now he feared no-one.

"Yeah, I was hanged," he said as they gawked. "Makes for quite a story. It would've knocked your socks off, had you seen it."

Jessie was still trying to process this. "Waitwaitwait. You were hanged but you escaped, and they didn't try to execute you again?"

"I was sentenced to hang. They neglected to say that I had to hang until I died. So I technically carried out my sentence." He casually twirled the tail end of the rope between his fingers.

"So why were you strung up to begin with?" Lukas asked.

"He tried to escape the dungeon," Edge cut in.

Archer nodded. "Yep. I almost made it out, but then the guards nabbed me. The penalty for trying to escape is death."

"Here, the penalty for basically _anything_ is death," Edge added.

"Maybe it was a good thing that I got caught before I actually escaped, though," Archer continued. "I know that sounds crazy, but I later found out that for every prisoner who escapes this rotten dungeon, they kill another prisoner. And as much as I'd love to be free, I couldn't go on knowing that someone had to take the fall for what I did."

"Harsh," Lukas said.

"I made a lucky escape, and Xena was all steamed that I outsmarted her, but she just shoved me back into my cell. I don't think she killed anyone else out of anger or something."

"Aw, Lukas, what have we gotten ourselves into?" Jessie whimpered.

"Is there any way to get out of here?" Lukas inquired of Archer.

"Kid, I just got done telling you about my _failed_ escape attempt," Archer said, disdain creeping up in his voice. "The only way out of here is climbin' up the staircase to heaven or riding the highway to hell."

"Lovely," Jessie grumbled. "So we can either try to escape and die now, or we can obey the rules and die later."

"That's life, kid."

The sick child started coughing once more. Across the aisle, he lay on his bed, limp as a rag doll. He was too weak to even pull the blanket over himself and warm up. His face was white. Literally. It was practically the color of a piece of paper.

"Oh, that poor little guy," Edge said. "He sounds really sick."

"I know." Jessie rested her chin in her hands. "I wish there was something we could do."

"Yeah, I know how that feels," Edge said. "I hate being helpless."

"This is one of those times when you just have to detach yourself from it," Archer cut in. "Can't do anything, so you might as well not think about it."

"Yeah, but…" Jessie trailed off.

"Best settle down and get a good night's rest," Archer said. "You've got a long day ahead of yourselves tomorrow."

* * *

"Up! Up! Everyone out of their cells!" husky voices bellowed as a handful of guards shoved their way into the cell block the next morning. "Stand at attention."

There was a shuffle of sleepy-eyed activity. The prisoners kicked off their blankets, climbed out of their cots, and staggered up to the doors of their cells. Some leaned against the bars, while others sat on the floor.

"What do they want?" Lukas moaned, rubbing his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Five in the morning," Archer said, pulling on his boots. "They always rouse us at five."

"Way too early," Jessie muttered.

"Quiet! Quiet!" one of the soldiers barked. "You will not speak unless you are told to."

The guards then went up and down the rows of cells, unlocking doors and pulling prisoners out into the aisle. No time was wasted in slapping a pair of manacles on each captive's wrists.

"Taban, we must count them!" one of the guards whined to his supervisor. "There must be eight as there was before. Otherwise, one or more has escaped."

The supervisor (Taban, apparently) shrugged and rolled his eyes, like this was something he had to do way more often than he'd care.

"Are there eight of you?" Taban asked. He sounded bored.

There was a long pause. The captives looked at each other and wrung their hands.

"Are there eight of you?" Taban repeated, a slight growl to his voice. "I don't have patience to play games, you fiery fools."

"No," Archer replied.

"I was told there were eight of you."

Archer tried to keep his tone level. "There were. Now there are seven. The sick child didn't make it through the night."

"Oh." Taban's expression softened. "I see…"

"That poor baby," Jessie whispered.

"Um...Did you witness this, or did you only discover it this morning?" Taban inquired. He still seemed floored by hearing that a child died last night. It punched through his hardened prison-guard guise.

"The kid's coughing got worse as the night went on. I couldn't sleep all that well. Around twentythree-ish, I heard him hacking as if he was coughing up blood. It went on for a few more hours. Then, at four-o-clock, the noise just stopped altogether."

"I see," said Taban. "Um...Guards. Go in that cell and remove the...dead child." He stumbled on the words.

There was the hollow creak of a rusty iron door opening. One of the soldiers hesitantly entered the cage, pushed aside the blankets, and then emerged holding the victim in his arms. The kid's body was emaciated, either from hunger or illness. His skin was a pale ashen color. He reminded Jessie of a trampled daisy.

A hush hung in the air. Captives and captors alike watched in stunned silence as the dead child was taken out of the room. The doors were shut heavily. Taban turned back to his captives, leaning on his frosty halberd. He shook his head to re-focus on being a stonehearted prison guard.

"What are you idiots looking at?" he growled when he saw the prisoners gawking at him. "You look like you're expecting something. What?"

No-one said anything.

"Idiots," he muttered again. "Form a line. Now!"

The prisoners scuttled into a line. Whoever didn't move fast enough was roughly pushed into position or hit with the butt end of a spear. A soldier carrying a long chain came down the line and attached each captive's shackles to it. Jessie winced at the bite of the cold iron.

"What's going on?" Lukas asked. "Where are we going?"

"There was an escape last night," Taban growled. "Dratted little rat snuck past the watchtowers. How many of you know what happens here when a prisoner escapes?"

Archer and Edge shuddered. "Oh, no…"

The others just looked confused.

Taban smiled sadistically. "Most of you don't? Lucky you! You get to find out!"

 _I don't think I want to find out_ , Jessie thought.

"Now march!" The guard at the lead pulled on the chain, giving everyone a jolt to get moving. They complied and started walking. The guards led the captives through a tangle of tunnels. The tunnels were lit by crystals fused into the walls, which gave off a cold white glare. They emerged from the tunnels into a dimly-lit and cleanly square room. Frost clung to its walls in fuzzy clumps, like mold. They were probably still underground. They had come up through one of the five entrances to the room. Guards towing strings of prisoners from the other cell blocks entered the room through the other four.

The five groups of captives were arranged into rows of eight. The guards stood at the edges, standing in front of the entrance tunnels so nobody would try to make a break for it. (Like they stood a chance of getting out successfully, anyway.)

Xena and her associates were waiting for them. She crossed her arms and scowled, then paced on the frozen floor.

"As you fools may or may not be aware," she said, her tone even more bitter than usual, "last night, there was an escape. One of you rats somehow slipped away from the dungeon. Escapes here are uncommon, but I will no longer leave the issue of the mere possibility unresolved. I have employed a great portion of our resources to ensure that this will never again happen. In the meantime, this deed cannot be without repercussions."

Those who didn't know what she meant blinked, confused. Those that _did_ know what she meant squirmed as they felt the drop in their gut.

Xena's voice went low as she said the fatal words: "For every prisoner who escapes, another prisoner must die."

There were a few stifled gasps and sobs.

She nodded to one of the associates. "Valor, choose a victim. Preferably a sick person or a child—they aren't as useful."

"Valor" complied, leaving her side to examine the captives. Jessie's blood ran cold as he slithered through their ranks, silently deciding whether a captive would live or die. He started from the back and slowly worked his way up the rows. Jessie and Lukas were at the front, their anxiety running higher the longer it went on. Finally, he reached the front row and walked down the line, skipping Edge, a guy, two women, Archer, and…

He stopped at Lukas.

Jessie's gut twisted. She could see him pointing at Lukas, but her brain refused to register it as reality.

"This one," Valor said.

"No!" Jessie wailed.

"Scrawny. Pale-skinned. Blonde hair and blue eyes. It's a sign of weakness," the man continued as he stared down Lukas, whose eyes were brimming with tears. "And he cries. Weak. He is of no use to us."

"No, no, please," Jessie sobbed. "Not my friend…"

Xena's two henchmen, Bataan and Dachau, walked up to Lukas and unlocked his chains. Each one grabbed an arm and held it as they prepared to lead him away.

Lukas looked back at Jessie, tears running down his cheeks. "Jessie...help…"

"I won't let you do that! Let him go," Jessie said.

"There isn't any way to save both of us," Lukas said. "So if this is good-bye—"

Bataan backhanded him to make him be quiet. They started to leave.

"This is just the way things have to be," Xena said.

"Wait!" one of the captives shouted. "Wait."

Jessie looked over to see who had said it. It was Edge. He bounced on his feet and waved, trying to get their attention. He stepped forward. Why he wasn't shoved back into line was a wonder. The guards paused and turned back.

Xena groaned. "What? Whatever could you have to say?"

"I...I...I want to take Lukas's place." Edge shivered, terrified by what he was saying. "Take me instead."

Jessie gaped. "What?"

"Is that so, Edge?" Xena fixed a dark-eyed gaze on him. "Why should we take you instead?"

"I'm too young to work hard, and I'm pretty sickly." He wheezed, to illustrate his point. "I'm not useful like Lukas is. You don't need me."

"Oh, no, Edge! Don't say that," Jessie pleaded. "You have your whole life ahead of you."

"Don't you want to save your Lukas?"

"Please, Edge, you're only a kid…"

"Be quiet," Xena scolded. "This is not your decision, young woman."

Jessie blinked back her tears.

"In that case," Xena said. "Confirm it, Edge. Do you truly wish to take Lukas's place on the death row?"

It was absolutely silent in the room. One could have heard a snowflake fall on the floor.

"Yes."

Someone in the back row moaned, while another person coughed once and whimpered. Most of the other people were in too much shock to make any noise at all.

"Very well," Xena droned. "His decision will be honored. Return Lukas to the ranks, and take Edge."

Bataan and Dachau complied, marching Lukas back to his spot next to Jessie and locking his wrists into the fetters again. Then they unshackled Edge, grabbed him by the arms, and put his hands behind his back. They tied a rope around his wrists for good measure.

"Is there anything you would like to say to your friends?" Xena asked.

Edge gazed back at the people in the front row, especially at Archer, Jessie, and Lukas. There was a look of silent, sad gratitude in Lukas's eyes.

Edge's voice was barely above a whisper. "A few burning matches can make a great bonfire."

Xena rolled her eyes. "He chooses some stupid proverb from his people as his last words?"

Edge gave his friends a sad smile as he was led away. When he disappeared through the tunnel with the guards at his sides, the whole room erupted. People started bawling at the idea of Xena approving the execution of a 13-year-old, said "What?" over and over again as they tried to understand what had just happened, or screamed at Xena for her heartlessness. Taban, the guard, glanced at Xena, incredulous. Jessie had the feeling that, in his view, Xena had just crossed a wicked line.

"How could you do that?" Jessie shouted at Xena as she dismissed the prisoners back to their cell blocks.

"Stop your whining. I don't have patience for you scum." Xena looked down her nose at Jessie, then turned to the guards. "Take the rats back to the dungeon. They go to the chain gang later today."

Jessie and the other captives from her cell block were taken back through the tunnels. The glowing stones seemed dimmer now, and the constant chill more aggressive. Jessie kept her head low and her gaze downcast as they trudged back to their cells. She could hear Edge's empty shackles dragging on the ground behind her. The sound seemed to rasp ' _guilty, guilty, you are guilty'_ at Jessie. She squinted, trying to tune it out.

When they returned to the cell block, the guards took off the shackles and shoved the prisoners back into their cells. Jessie leaned against the wall, and Lukas sat on the bed crouched up in fetal position. The guards exited the room, slamming the doors behind them. A tense silence covered the group, with no-one wanting to be the first one to say something.

"I wonder what Edge saw in you," Archer said to Lukas. His tone was unreadable.

Lukas had nothing to say.

"Do you appreciate the sacrifice he's making for you?"

"Yes...Yes, of course."

"You had better. That kid isn't just going to be put in time-out. He's _dying_ because of you. I don't know if it's sunk in to him that this is the end of his life, but you'd better appreciate it. He'll never get to see the end of the ice and fire war. He won't live to see our release from this prison. He'll never return to his mom and dad."

Lukas closed his eyes. A tear ran down his cheek.

"That can't be true," Jessie said. "Xena wouldn't execute a 13-year-old. No-one is that evil."

"Don't underestimate her evil," Archer retorted. "At least Edge gets out of this dump early."

Jessie leaned back against the wall and sighed.

 _What kind of savage world is this?_


	24. Hailfire, Pt 1

Jessie must have fallen asleep, because she woke up in a groggy haze and found herself leaning against the wall. Lukas had rolled over on his side and curled up even more tightly in fetal position. In the cell across from them, she could hear footsteps scraping on the floor. It was Archer; he paced in anxious circles, muttering to himself. By the looks of it, he had been a nervous wreck for hours. He groaned softly, stroked his crooked neck, and held his hands over his stomach as if he was in physical pain.

However, Jessie didn't get to ask him if he was okay (which he obviously _wasn't_ , anyway) because the dungeon guards, led by Taban, threw open the door and pushed their way into the room. Taban was in the lead, but he had a conflicted, confused, and sad expression on his face. He was the only one who looked like that; all the others glared at the prisoners with hateful scowls.

"Up! Up! Everyone out of their cells!" shouted a soldier (not Taban.)

"What is it _now_?" Archer complained as he stuffed his boots onto his feet. Since he was all sleep-deprived and anxious, it took him three tries to get them on and the laces tied. He wasn't fast enough for them, so they yanked him out of his cell and hit him on the back with the butt end of a spear. All the captives hastily arranged themselves into a line, trying to avoid getting slapped or shoved for not moving fast enough.

"The only way you rats make yourselves useful." A guard took the manacles off of the prisoners' wrists. Their relief was only short-lived, however. Another guard, holding a long chain, went down the line and locked their ankles into the shackles on the chain.

"What does that mean?" Jessie asked, lifting her foot and picking at the shackle. A soldier shot her a toxic look for tampering with her chains, so she quickly dropped her foot and put her hands behind her back.

Taban picked up the tail of the chain and gave it a light tug, directing the prisoners forward. "Your efforts are needed for our purposes. Come, we will fetch pickaxes, and then you will help us dig tunnels through the ice."

"Wait, wait, wait," Jessie said as Taban led them out of the dungeon. "I can see past your sugarcoating. You're making slaves out of us!"

"Well, yes, that's true," Taban said. "You're captives. When people are taken captive, they're made slaves. Don't you know how war works?"

"We never had a war where we're from," Lukas said.

"Shh," Jessie warned him, then whispered, "Don't let them know, okay? If you think it's bad now…"

"Now come along," Taban rumbled. "Xena will be angry if you are not at the designated spot on time. She hates that. She will punish you for disobeying her."

He took them through one of the tunnels. It broke off into a fork at the end, and Taban chose the path on the right. This one was even worse than the main tunnel. It constricted into a tight squeeze. There were no glowing crystals to light the way; the prisoners had to stumble along in the dark. Furthermore, it stunk in the tunnel. A musty, acrid odor lingered in the stale air.

"What is that awful smell?" Lukas whispered. Judging by the nasal way he said it, he was pinching his nose shut.

"Horses and rotten fish, I think," she whispered back.

Jessie suddenly tripped on her chains. She fell on her knees, and her shoes scrabbled on the icy floor. She was about to stand up when a hard, painful impact struck her in the back. She cried out.

"Stupid girl!" a harsh voice growled. A sharp-eyed guard had seen her fall, and then kicked her in the back. "Making the whole procession stall. Get up!"

 _What did you think I was trying to do, you lunkhead,_ Jessie thought, but she didn't dare say it. She staggered to her feet, tensed up in anticipation of getting kicked again. It didn't happen, though, and she kept moving along with the group.

"Jess, are you OK?" Lukas asked her, voice hushed, a minute later. "What happened?"

"I tripped and fell," she whispered, "and that stupid guard kicked me in the back for it."

"Ouch."

"I hate this place. This is awful."

"Oh, I hope Ivor and Petra can come back soon."

"Right, before Xena finds some reason to kill us."

At last, the tunnel opened up into daylight. The dawn sky shone pale pink. Taban and the guards led the captives out into a frosty courtyard. It was hemmed with stone walls and iron fences. Lots of dirty footprints were scattered across the courtyard, as if a bunch of people had been stomping around there last night. Most of the footprints were concentrated around the firepots. The firepots still burned with their feeble yellow flames, but those were smoldering away in the sunlight.

After a pickaxe or shovel was shoved into the hands of each captive, the soldiers started to march them across the courtyard. Jessie and Lukas looked down at the ground, not really paying attention to their surroundings. As they approached the gate on the other end of the yard, Jessie noticed that the people walking ahead of her would glance to their right and then suddenly avert their eyes, some of them even holding their hands against the right side of their faces.

Jessie and Lukas turned to see what the others were trying _not_ to see.

"What are they not looki—"

The words died in her mouth.

On the east side of the courtyard, there was a wooden platform with a trapdoor and an overhanging beam.

The trapdoor was open, and a body was suspended over it. A strip of white cloth was tied around one of the ankles.

The sun silhouetted a taut rope and a broken neck.

Lukas tried to say something, but all that came out was a hoarse squeak. Jessie stumbled and fell on her knees. It made the communal chain lurch, and the captives walking behind them staggered, their shoes skidding on the ice.

Bataan and Dachau stood on either end of the platform, arms crossed and glaring at the line of prisoners passing by. It was a warning. Dachau even pointed at them, as if to say 'Disobey and this will be you.'

"Get up, stand up," the person in front of Jessie pleaded as she tried to pull the girl to her feet. "Please stand up."

"Hey, hey, hey. Why did we stop?" one guard barked. "What's the holdup?"

"Stand up! Before they beat you!" the person pleaded, grabbing Jessie by the wrists. Jessie had the thousand-yard-stare in her eyes, her thoughts a million kilometers away from the soldiers bearing down on the stalled procession of captives. It took a kick in the back to snap her back into reality. She shuffled back into line and trudged with her head down. The point of the pickaxe she carried dragged on the ground, carving a long scratch on the ice.

The captive-slaves were led out of the courtyard and across a field of frozen grass. A horse stable stood in its midst; burly draft horses stuck their heads out of their stalls to watch the fuss outside.

Lukas finally found the courage to speak. "Oh, Edge, that poor kid…" He sounded on the verge of tears.

"I just...I don't...How could anyone be so cruel?" Jessie sniffled. "I thought Xena wouldn't execute him because no-one's that evil, but...oh, Lukas, I hate this world! We have to get out of here!"

"There is no way out of here," the person walking in front of Jessie said, their shoulders sagging. It wasn't the weight of the pickaxe that made their shoulders sag; it was the weight of their grief.

"That's not true," Jessie breathed, but she doubted her own words.

Heads drooping in defeat, they continued to march. The chains of slavery clinked; the groans of the oppressed carried on the frozen wind. Jessie felt like she was living a nightmare. This was a savage world, where the darkest depths of man's depravity played out, where it was daily tested how wicked one person can be to another.

At the end of the field stood a rugged hillscape, coated under strata of ice. The ground sloped into a wide channel. Tall ice walls loomed on either side. Jessie could hear pickaxes and effort-grunts echoing in the wide space. The slaves were being forced to dig out a channel in the glacial ice.

And Jessie and Lukas were about to become two more slaves for the project.

"But where is it going?" Jessie mumbled.

Lukas frowned at the bleak sight before him. "And why?"

They feared that they would soon know the answer. The slaves were goaded down the incline, into the carved-out valley below. The ice was slippery and many people lost their footing. Whoever slipped and fell down was kicked by a soldier. When they reached the foot of the incline, the terrain leveled out into frozen grass. Jessie and Lukas shuddered; the surrounding ice walls blew gusts of cold air at them all around.

Lines of slaves, their ankles strung together with communal chains, picked at the ice with their pickaxes. Draft horses towed along sleds loaded with scrap metal and other junk found frozen in the glacier. Guards stood by, armed with sticks and whips to beat on prisoners that weren't working fast enough. Men, women, and children alike were forced into this drudgery.

Jessie and Lukas stared in horror at it all. They'd never seen anything this depraved before.

The company of soldiers, led by Taban, brought their captives to the designated work area. A huge, rough-hewn wall of partially cleared ice loomed up before them, mocking them with the daunting task they were to complete.

"You'll never clear me," it seemed to sneer.

"Where is this channel going?" Jessie demanded of Taban.

"You don't need to know. Just clear the ice." Taban wouldn't look her in the eye.

"Yeah, just clear the ice. Piece of trash!" a soldier cackled at them.

"Hey. Shut up," Taban cut him a hard glare. "We don't need that."

Every swing of their pickaxes made Jessie and Lukas feel like traitors. Wherever this channel went and whatever purpose it was for, it aided this terrible, villainous empire. But if they didn't work, their captors would be upon them in a moment, with whips and rods at the ready. The only way to not collapse from the stress was to put everything out of mind for now. No thinking about this evil empire, the sick child and Edge, or their friends off in who knows where. Just focus on the ice. There is nothing but the ice. Steady, now. That's it. Swing the pickaxe. Strike the ice. Break it to pieces. Sweep it away. Swing, strike, break, sweep. Swing, strike, break, sweep. Swing, strike, break, sweep.

Over and over again.

* * *

The slaves had to work until the sun was low on the horizon. It was getting too dark out to see anything. They had made some progress, but not much. Soldiers went down the line, snatching pickaxes out of people's hands and counting the captives, to make sure neither tools nor slaves had gone missing. Then the prisoners were herded along and led back to the dungeon.

Jessie's muscles ached from the backbreaking work. Her shoulders sagged. Lukas was faring no better. His fingers were numb, so he had dropped his pick a few times, and consequently was whacked with a tree branch whenever it happened. No doubt he had bruises all over his back.

After a march in the dark over the field, the captives were brought into a courtyard and finally given some food. Not that it was anything that substantial. Soup that was basically potato-flavored water, and some nasty bread that was hard as rock. Though the food was terrible, the prisoners were just about starving by this point, so Jessie and Lukas ate their rations without complaint. They sat around a fire-pot, trying to warm their hands on the lukewarm flames.

"We have to find a way out of here," Jessie mused. "I can't do this."

"I can't either. But I don't know what to do!" Lukas shook his head. "We're still waiting on Ivor and Petra to return, too.

"Lukas. Jessie. Come on," Archer said suddenly, walking past.

They followed him hesitantly. "Why? Where are we going?"

They checked over their shoulders. Luckily, the guards were distracted at the moment, looking the other way.

"We have to be quick. We only have a little while to do this," the man said. "If we don't do anything, they'll just throw Edge in a ditch. Let's give him a proper burial."

"Okay. Okay." Jessie and Lukas trotted behind Archer, ready to carry out whatever instruction he'd give.

A cluster of other captives came with, forming a group of about ten people. Archer squeezed through a hole in the iron fence, then waved the others forward. They tiptoed into a back lot. It was a small lot, no bigger than the floorspace of a cottage, covered in frosty grass. Over time, captives had snuck stone bricks and flowers into the back lot, and used them to build a tiny garden. It was a faint glimmer of beauty in the midst of the ugliness of the dungeons. Someone carried Edge's body, then handed him to Archer. Archer then carried Edge into the garden and laid him across the stone bench in its middle. A woman, who managed to sneak a shovel past the guards, went to an open spot and started digging a person-sized hole in the dirt, for the grave.

One of the captives was a pastor, so he offered to give Edge the most official funeral he could. While the other prisoners listened in respectful silence, he talked about not fearing those who can't kill the soul, the unfairness of the world, and sacrifice being the highest form of love. He urged the others to stay strong, and to keep love in their hearts despite all the hatred raging around them.

"The hate the ice people harbor towards us will never be done away with if we likewise hate them. We have to show them love, though it may be hard," he concluded.

"Love your enemies...bless those who curse you," someone responded, familiar with that line of teaching.

"Yes, yes, yes. Precisely."

 _That's going to be hard,_ Jessie thought glumly.

"Oh, would I that no children would die. Nothing hurts my heart more than that. But at least we can take comfort knowing that Edge has been taken away from the hardship, the hate, the violence of this evil world. Knowing that his soul is free of such things, let us lay his body to rest."

Archer carried Edge to the freshly-dug grave. Ever so gently, he laid Edge in it. Jessie spotted tears shining in the man's eyes. She got the feeling that Edge had been like a son to Archer. Archer moaned something about how this was his fault.

The shovel was passed around the group. Everyone threw a shovelful of dirt into the hole. They arranged stones into a heart over the mound. A few people lingered by it, blowing kisses or murmuring prayers over the gravesite. Archer paced back and forth, frowning.

"I won't stand this anymore," he said fiercely. "Are we going to sit by and suffer until Xena murders someone else?"

There was a pause, and then several people shook their heads and voiced their dissent. Jessie and Lukas were among them.

"No way," Jessie said. "We have to fight for what's right."

"Time to stage a rebellion?" Lukas asked.

Archer nodded slowly. "Yes. Yes, a rebellion is due. Come on. There is something else I want to show you. I think it can help."

He motioned for Jessie and Lukas to follow him. The others huddled in a line to shield them from view. Archer took them into a small shed standing in one corner of the garden. In it were some tools, a couple buckets, and a little wire cage with a cloth.

"What's that?" asked Lukas.

Archer pulled away the cloth, revealing a hawk-sized orange bird. It had shiny feathers and glittering eyes. It opened its black beak and started to let out a musical cry.

"Shhh, birdie," Archer soothed, then fed it a piece of bread before opening the cage. The bird hopped out and preened its feathers.

"That is one pretty bird," Jessie said. "What kind is that? Have you been hiding it in the shed all this time?"

"It's a firebird," Archer explained in a hushed voice. "You know, a phoenix. Pyra is my last connection with my homeland in this dump. She is a messenger. And she will carry my message."

"Your message?"

"I'm sending word to the army of the Fire Empire for help. We can wait no longer." Archer shuffled around in his Pocket looking for paper and a stick of charcoal. When he found them, he started to scrawl a note.

Lukas looked stunned. "You're asking them to summon the army?"

"I wish we didn't have to resort to violence, but we no longer have a choice. Because if we don't act, sooner or later, Xena will kill us all." Archer bound up the note in string and tied to to Pyra's slender leg.

The phoenix ruffled her feathers and stretched her wings.

"Yes, you know where to go, Pyra," he said to the bird. With a thrust of her wings, the phoenix took flight. Jessie and Lukas watched her glide away, an orange smear against the gloom. When she disappeared into the distance, they turned back to Archer. Now what?

"Let's go back. Before they get suspicious."

* * *

The cold wind whipped across the icy plains, howling like a wounded wolf. For one born in the frost of the Ice Empire, however, it didn't disturb at all. They breathed in the winter air all their lives. It was not a hardship but a comfort to feel the rush of cold and freshness in their lungs. Flanked by Bataan and Dachau, Xena stood out on the balcony of a watch tower and gazed up at the starlit, dusky sky.

"Beauty, isn't it?" she asked no-one in particular.

Bataan and Dachau said nothing. Obviously. They never spoke. Xena didn't care enough to ask why. However, between the three of them, they all knew that Xena had more than just the stars on her mind.

"I know they're upset about Edge," Xena said, back still turned to her henchmen. "Well, they should know I don't care! It's just like I said: this is just the way things have to be. If they didn't want Edge to die, they should have let me kill the blond one. Useless little blond twit."

She gritted her teeth and glanced up at the sky again. It was then spotted a fleck of orange against the gray gloom. A fiery, flying orange fleck. She was no stranger to the schemes of the Fire Empire. She knew a phoenix when she saw one. And she had a good idea of who sent it.

"Archer," she hissed under her breath.

Bataan and Dachau patted the swords at their sides. Xena perked an eyebrow at them.

"That is true. I'm sure he's not sending a letter to his mother. Of course he's rallying for a rebellion. Well, we shall be ready to meet whatever that blasted Fire Empire throws at us, yes? And as for Archer...you have permission to arrest him. And any of his conspirators. I hope he's aware that instigating rebellion is a capital crime."

Wicked grins grew on the henchmen's faces.

"That's right. String him up...and make sure he dies this time."


	25. Hailfire, Pt 2

**A/N: Just a warning that stuff gets real in this chapter. Be prepared for more violence and character death than you're used to.**

A humidity-induced rain soaked Petra's hair. It plastered to her neck and shoulders. At least the rain helped relieve some of the choking thickness of the jungle air. It softened the dirt underfoot into a pasty mud. Despite the rain, a column of smoke still rose from the huge volcano in the distance. The fiery mountain perpetually smoked and smoldered.

"Who would've thought it would rain in the Fire Empire, huh?" she asked Ivor as they scurried to take shelter under a grove of banana trees.

"I had thought that their domain would be in the desert, not the jungle," Ivor replied. "This was unexpected."

He stepped in the wrong spot, specifically onto an overripe banana that had fallen to the ground. Disgusted, he bent down and started wiping the banana goop off his shoe.

"Deserts are too barren," a buff and battle-scarred man said as he approached. "There isn't enough in the desert to provide for an entire empire's worth of our people."

"That's not true," Ivor countered. "In our home world, there once was a very powerful kingdom in the desert. They built pyramids and invented a language of symbols and pictures. A very brilliant people."

"What was your name again?" Petra asked the man of war. "I didn't hear you the first time because Ivor wouldn't stop gushing about how huge the trees in this jungle are."

"It's Argus," said he. "And I'm glad 'Ivor' approves." The latter statement was slightly sarcastic.

"It was kind of you to escort us to safety," Petra continued. "Thanks."

Argus shrugged. "Hardly a problem. Being general of the army, I know the jungle almost as well as I know myself. There is hardly a tree or grotto therein of which I am not aware."

Argus fought with dual scimitars, but kept them in sheaths at his hips at the moment. Due to the hot climate of his homeland, Argus's clothes weren't much more than short pants and a leather vest. Petra tried not to get distracted by his rippling muscles. Ivor had told Argus to put a shirt on when they first encountered him. Argus did not react well to that comment. He had grabbed Ivor by the collar and tossed him up a tree. It took twenty minutes for Petra to help him back down.

Instead of at a center of command for the Fire Empire, they had ended up at a military camp instead. Argus couldn't abandon his duties as general to take them to the main city. They had spent the past day sleeping in tents and having bananas and meat for dinner.

"I'm very worried about Jessie and Lukas," Ivor said. "The last time we saw them, they were taken prisoner by the ice people. They thought we were intruders from the Fire Empire."

Argus gasped. "The Ice Empire took them prisoner?"

Petra and Ivor nodded.

"Oh, heaven help them," Argus sighed. "Especially if they went to the dungeon overseen by Xena."

"Who's Xena?" Petra asked.

"Only the evilest megalomaniac imaginable." The jungle man shook his head. "She's part of the reason why the Fire Empire is constantly at war with the Ice. Her pride for her empire is so strong that she will leave no boundary uncrossed to fulfill her goals. If your friends were captured and taken to her dungeon, their survival will be constantly at risk."

"Don't say that." Ivor's voice warbled.

"If that's the case, we need to save them," Petra said, standing up. "They need us."

"We've been preparing for the latest battle," said Argus. "The original agreement is that we would fight on the banks of the great river that marks the boundary between Fire and Ice. Until we defeat the Ice Empire, there is no chance of saving its prisoners."

Petra bit her lip. She didn't like to take negativity for an answer when her friends were in danger.

"Argus!" a random Fire Empire soldier shouted, pointing up at the sky. Argus looked up in the direction he was pointing, as did Petra and Ivor. A smear of orange coasted through the cloudy sky, dodging raindrops.

"Great Scott!" Argus exclaimed. "It's Pyra."

"It's who now?" Petra flashed him a confused look.

Argus held out his arm. Pyra, the phoenix, swooped down and alighted upon it. She cawed musically at him and ruffled her fiery feathers.

"A phoenix! How exquisite!" Ivor marveled. "And I thought they were mythical, or at least extinct. Astounding."

"It's been a good long time since I've seen you, girl!" Argus stroked the firebird under the chin.

Pyra squawked and showed Argus the note on her leg.

"Aha! A message from Archer." He untied it, unrolled it, and read it. "'Attention...this is urgent...please help...send for the army…' He wants us to send the army already?"

"Who's Archer?" Petra demanded. "What about Lukas and Jessie?"

"Xena has them. Archer said in his note," Argus said, then whistled to get the other soldiers' attention. "The time to attack is now. Maybe we can end this war for good. Many of my men are tired of fighting. Let this be the endgame."

"Wait," Petra said as he started to leave so he could rally the troops. "We want to come with."

Argus turned. "You do?"

Petra and Ivor nodded. "We need to save Jessie and Lukas. Is there any way we can come along?"

"Uh, sure," said the general, waving them along to follow him. "Come. You can accompany me as part of the cavalry."

"Oh, cavalry?" Petra sounded unsure. "I've only ridden on a horse a handful of times. On second thought...maybe we should..."

"What do you mean, horses?" The jungle man paused and turned to look quizzically at them.

"Doesn't a cavalry ride horses? Not much of a cavalry if they don't ride h— _Oh my gosh!_ "

Argus stroked the scaly neck of a silver dragon. The creature was the size of a polar bear. It had a long neck, dog-like legs, a crocodilian head, and a pair of webbed wings. A small bit of smoke leaked out of its mouth. There was a spiked ball (resembling a medieval flail) on the end of its tail.

Gobsmacked for the second time that day, Ivor stammered something about how dragons were supposed to be extinct.

The old man had a hard time accepting the sight of the dragon in front of him. "I-I thought the Order of the Stone killed the last dragon."

"The who of the what?" Argus frowned. "No. Dragons are alive and well. Why, eight varieties can be found in the Fire Empire alone. But we mostly breed the Silver Spiketail for our purposes. They're the easiest to domesticate and well suited for flying."

"Are you telling me that the Fire Empire cavalry rides dragons?" Petra's eyes went wide.

Argus nodded.

"AWESOME!" Petra let out a fangirlish squeal. "That is just way too awesome! You have automatically become the best country ever. A dragon cavalry. Oh, too epic."

Ivor scratched his beard. "I had no idea she had such a fondness for dragons."

Argus swung onto the dragon's back. Then he motioned for Ivor and Petra to hop up onto the back of a second silver dragon.

"It's safe," he assured them.

Hesitantly they climbed on. Ivor almost slipped off, but it wrapped its tail around his waist and lifted him onto its back. Around them, the Fire Army was gathering into battle assembly. The dragons spread their wings; the noise was like the unfolding of hundreds of sheets of leather.

"Ready for liftoff!" Argus cheered. "Move the army. For freedom! For safety! For justice! Huzzah!"

Ivor and Petra found themselves cheering a "huzzah" along with him.

The dragons took flight.

* * *

Jessie couldn't even make guesses as to what it was now.

After laying Edge to rest and sneaking back into the courtyard, Archer had gone his separate way. Jessie, Lukas, and the others had been thrown back into their cells. She'd been too tired to talk with Archer about the tunnel they'd been forced to dig. In fact, she'd been too tired to notice that he wasn't even in his cell that night.

In the morning, when the guards came busting through the door yet again to haul everyone out of their cells, she had made a snark to Archer about how "don't they know even slaves have to sleep sometimes." only to discover that his cell was empty. Dachau, who was usually present to harass the prisoners, wasn't there either. It was strange, and in a place like this, Jessie knew it had to be a bad sign as well.

The sky burned deep red, like freshly spilled blood, with the dawn. A frigid wind slapped Jessie in the face as she, Lukas, and the other prisoners were led outside. The clatter of chains rang obnoxiously in her ears. Her muscles still burned from yesterday's drudgery.

A stone tower, looking like the central building to this evil operation, rose over the frozen courtyard. In front of it, a platform and overhanging bar had been constructed. A length of rope dangled from the beam, swaying in the wind. Jessie groaned at the sight. How many? How many times would this ugly scene play out before they escaped this terrible world?

The prisoners were arranged into rows at the foot of the gallows. Soldiers stood at the corners of the rows and at the foot of the platform. They yelled at the prisoners to shut up (some with especially colorful language) and prodded them with their spears to keep them in line. Taban stood in the corner nearest to Jessie; in fact, he was only a few steps away. Unlike his peers, he didn't insult or strike any captives. Everyone was tense, not knowing if someone was about to be plucked from the ranks for execution. Had there been another escape?

Jessie glanced over and saw Lukas staring heavenward. She wondered what he was looking at, or rather, what he was thinking. Stuck glaring in a thousand-yard-stare? Praying for mercy? Unable to bear looking at the execution about to take place? Who knew.

Xena emerged from the tower, her boots clicking on the ice. Bataan and Dachau followed like her shadow. They rounded about the gallows and walked up the steps to the platform. When they turned, Jessie could see the prisoner hemmed in by the burly henchmen.

The prisoner had a crooked neck.

She bit her lip and resisted crying out his name. Why did they have Archer? Why were they going to kill him? Wasn't one attempt on his life enough?

Archer's hands were bound behind his back. A silk scarf was tied around his neck, and Xena held the end of it like a leash. Jessie cringed; Xena led him to his execution by reminding him of the noose that would soon be around his neck. This woman had cruelty down to an art form. Once Archer was standing on the platform, Bataan ripped the scarf off and turned him towards the noose dangling off the beam. He let Archer get a good look at it before Dachau gave him a shove on the back to goad him forward.

Jessie wanted to tear her gaze away from the gallows, but couldn't. Some kind of horrified interest kept her eyes locked on the scene.

A perverse delight glowed in Xena's eyes as her henchmen stood Archer on the trapdoor. Despite the imminent danger, he kept a hard, stoic glare. He refused to give Xena the satisfaction of seeing him frightened. He hardly flinched when Dachau pulled down the noose and forced it over his head. His eye twitched when the rope loop was tightened.

Xena took in the sight. "Look at you. So determined, even as death stares you in the face. You glow with love for your homeland. You're a bright candle for the Fire Empire. I suppose that's admirable...after all, I love my own nation. I seek to protect her, you know. Unfortunately, it looks like ice and fire will be forever at odds. Fire may melt ice, but today I am going to snuff out your flame."

Archer glanced at her, but said nothing.

"Still, even now, you can spare yourself from this fate. All you have to do is name your conspirators. I know you didn't plan a rebellion alone. Name them, and they will go to the gallows in your place. You can cheat death a second time." She stroked his neck.

Archer spat in her face. Xena yelped in surprise and drew back, wiping the saliva off her cheek. She glared venomously at the stubborn rebel.

"Ah! So that is how you want it!" she shouted, shaking her fist. "I see how it is. Well, then, I have nothing else left to say. What about you?"

"Oh, don't you see, Xena? You've already made a martyr out of Edge, and now you're making another out of me! Can't you see the seeds of a rebellion already?" Then Archer stepped forward and shouted to the crowd. "Crosses, pyres, and gallows are where revolutions are born! You can kill a person, but you can't kill an idea!"

"Shut up!" Xena snapped at him.

Jessie watched the scene unfold, dread knotting up her gut. "This is bad."

"He's gonna die. And we have to watch it." Lukas shook his head.

Jessie had not noticed when Taban strayed from his post and snuck between the rows of prisoners. He had moved as stealthily as a cat. Suddenly, she felt her ankle shackles shift. She yelped in surprise and turned around to see the crusty guard...unlocking her chains?

"Wha-what?" she stammered.

"Shh," said Taban. "Please, just go along with this."

"What are you doing?" she hissed as he removed her fetters and then went to work on Lukas's. "What are you up to?"

"Don't you want me to help?" he retorted, his voice sounding crackly in a whisper. He shucked off Lukas's chains, then nodded at a crevice formed between two dungeon buildings. "I've had it with Xena and her scheming and the murders and all that crap. If you want to have a heroic moment, now's the time."

Jessie stood frozen for a few seconds, hardly believing what he had just said.

"Go! It's do or die time." He gave her and Lukas a push, urging them to go.

They fled, breaking away from the ranks and slipping between the buildings. Pushed by adrenaline, they snuck around the courtyard, looping around the tower to get from its left to its right. This gave them the advantage of getting a three-sixty view of the tower, analyzing its structure and entrances. Knowing that might come in handy later. They found a niche in a space between two storage bunkers, under a metal staircase.

"What are we gonna do?" Lukas whispered to Jessie. "Do we have a plan?"

Jessie shook her head.

"I don't think this will work."

"Yeah, but we have to try. Like what Taban said: 'it's do or die time.' I'm sick of being kicked around by the bad guys. It's time for action."

Jessie leaned in. Xena was lecturing something about a "war of attrition," how the determination of the Ice Empire would outlast the Fire Empire, and how the weak had to be weeded out if society was to remain strong. She gabbed on about the virtues of strength and determination and "patriotic vision," whatever the heck that was. Jessie only half-listened.

"Virtue? Funny, I didn't think the word 'virtue' was even in her vocabulary," Lukas commented.

"How are we going to stop her from killing Archer? We can't attack head-on. She's got too many soldiers posted, and Dachau and Bataan are never far from her side."

"I can't shoot the rope with my bow," Lukas said. "I've seen it done in plays before, but that's just showbiz. It's way harder to do in real life."

Jessie glanced at the noose-rope, then drew her sword. It caught a gleam of red dawn light. She looked at the rope again.

"Maybe we won't have to use a bow…?"

"Enough of this," Xena called over the crowd. "Now you must see the consequences of rebellion. Dachau?"

Dachau gripped the lever that would activate the trapdoor. Archer's head was drooping down, but he glanced up slightly and made eye contact with the henchman. Dachau narrowed his eyes at Archer and made a weird sound like a congested growl.

Jessie didn't know how to throw a sword. Just the sort of time to learn.

Xena nodded to Dachau. "Throw the lever."

Jessie's heart pounded. She could almost hear Lukas's heart pounding, too. She readied her sword and prayed with all her might that this might work.

The henchman gripped the lever and cranked it back. The trapdoor opened and Archer started to fall. Screaming, Jessie thrust the sword. It swept through the air, like a diamond comet, like a streak of blue lightning. Unbelievably and gloriously, it sliced through the rope. Archer tumbled to the ground, alive, with the cut noose dangling uselessly from his neck. Xena and her henchmen stared at the cut rope and the sword stuck in the stone wall, their mouths agape.

Archer was surprised, too. He got up on his feet, staring wide-eyed and clearly wondering why he wasn't dead. A guard standing nearby took notice and prepared to use his axe, but Archer interrupted him with a headbutt. The guard fell to the ground, stunned from the blow. While the axe was falling, Archer spun around and used the falling blade to cut through the ropes on his wrists. Then he spun around again and grabbed the weapon, just in time to point it at the other guard who was coming at him. The soldier quailed at the sight of the unkillable prisoner, now armed with a defeated comrade's weapon.

Xena, still shocked that she had yet again failed to kill Archer, looked around desperately for the rebel who had thrown the sword. She retraced, with her gaze, the path the sword had taken. She caught just a glimpse of Jessie and Lukas in the alley, but a glimpse was enough. She had suspected them to be a threat from day one, and now all doubt was gone. Jessie saw pure murder in the woman's dark-as-sin eyes. She and Lukas fled.

"BATAAN! DACHAU!" Jessie heard Xena scream as they ran away. "It was the blonde boy and the girl in blue armor. Don't let them escape! After them!"

Bataan and Dachau jumped off of the platform and took chase after Jessie and Lukas. While that chase was going on, Archer went on a rampage, hacking through the ranks of soldiers with his new axe, as he ran towards the gates of the prison camp. Actual archers, who stood on the parapets of buildings, shot at him as he ran, but he dodged their arrows. The other prisoners, excited by the derring-do, started to riot. They used shovels and pickaxes to break their shackles and then to attack their captors. Within minutes, the prison had become a battleground.

After a couple minutes of running, Jessie and Lukas couldn't hear Bataan and Dachau storming after them. They slowed down, confused. They stood amidst stacks of wooden crates.

"Where'd they go?" Lukas asked. Classic case of tempting fate.

Dachau suddenly leapt down from a crate stack and tackled Jessie. Jessie wormed out of his hold, scrambled to her feet, and took off running, just in time to miss the henchman's sword. It pierced into the ice she had been lying on a second ago. When Jessie ran, Dachau followed.

"Jessie!" Lukas shouted. But he had no time to run to her rescue. Bataan pounced from the shadows, narrowly missing taking off Lukas's head with a sword. Lukas answered with his own iron sword, blocking the attack. He was stuck in a duel with Bataan and couldn't run to save Jessie. He hoped she would be strong enough to fight on her own. She had demonstrated her strength in the past, so he hoped she could keep it up. For love and friendship, she had to keep it up.

Jessie's lungs burned. Her heart thundered. Her legs protested, but she forced herself to keep running. Dachau was close at hand; his boots pounded the ground as he pursued her. She zigzagged through alleys and made brave dashes through courtyards. It made her wonder just how large this prison camp was. And it made her wonder how long it would be before she ran into a dead end.

"No!" she yelled as she turned a corner and did exactly that. A solid stone wall loomed up in front of her, blocking off her chance of escape. There was higher ground, but it was unreachable from her position. She pressed against the wall and cried out in distress. Dachau approached, sword in hand. It was a cruel, curving blade with brown bloodstains. Tears prickled the corners of Jessie's eyes.

"Just make it fast, okay?" she pleaded. She covered up her eyes so she wouldn't see it coming, and imagined her friends instead. She wanted the last thing she saw to be Petra, Ivor, and Lukas.

The killing blow never came. Instead, Jessie heard a scream, a furious man's feral yowl. She took her hands off her eyes, then gasped at the sight. Taban, of all people, had leapt down from the higher ground, flying-tackled Dachau, and was now trying to wrestle the sword out of his hand.

"Taban!" Jessie shouted. "What are you doing?"

"Saving your life!" he called over his shoulder. "I've had enough of this stinking son of a dog!"

Dachau, enraged by that insult, lashed out with punches. He and Taban wrestled on the ground, almost equally matched in strength. Taban grabbed Dachau's sword and wrested it out of his hand, then flung it away. Before Dachau could throw Taban off his back and retrieve the weapon, Taban pulled out his own dagger.

"Don't look, Jessie," he warned, and stabbed it between Dachau's ribs. The henchman wheezed, bled from his back, convulsed on the ground, and then went still. Jessie shuddered. Even if Dachau had been evil, it had still been an unpleasant sight.

"I told you not to look!" Taban said, exasperated.

Leaving Dachau's dead body behind for someone else to find, they took off running. Jessie didn't know where Taban was leading her, but there wasn't really time to stop and ask. Besides, if Taban had just killed Xena's right-hand man, he probably wasn't trying to lead her into a trap.

"Taban, I don't have a sword," Jessie stammered as they ran. "How am I gonna make it without a weapon?"

"How did you lose it?" he asked. "I thought you had a diamond sword of the finest crafting."

"I threw it to cut Archer's noose. It got stuck in a stone wall."

"Then we have to get it back. That's not a weapon you can just leave behind in the heat of battle."

Having Taban along was an advantage. He knew his way around the prison camp while Jessie didn't, so he could guide her back to the courtyard. When they returned to the spot, it was mad. All hell had broken loose, it seemed. The rioting prisoners were battling their captors. Many had fallen on both sides of the fight, and blood stained the ground. Jessie's diamond sword was still stuck in the wall; no-one had bothered to pull it back out. Taban leapt up onto a parapet, ran down its length, and retrieved the sword before returning it to Jessie. His parkour skills were impressive.

Jessie turned. Xena still stood on the platform, gripping the cut rope with white knuckles. She watched the armageddon raging on the courtyard, then hopped off the platform and ran for the safety of her tower. The guards opened the iron gates for her and then shut them securely in her wake. Jessie just wondered where Lukas was. The last time she saw him, he was in a duel with Bataan. Bataan looked a lot stronger than Lukas…and unlike her blond friend, the henchman was well-trained to kill.

No. She couldn't afford to think about that right now. It was too terrible.

"Xena just ran into her tower," Taban hissed. "Jess, kiddo, we need you to go after her."

Jessie blanched. "I-I'm supposed to fight her? She'll kill me."

"Not if you kill her first." Taban shrugged.

Jessie shuddered. "Kill?"

A fight to the death? Jessie never killed anyone! As evil as Xena was, Jessie could not imagine herself slaying the woman. Wouldn't that be murder? Or was Xena already deserving death for all the murders _she_ committed? She had Edge's blood on her hands, that was certain. The sick child had died under her negligence. She'd almost killed Archer today, and she had tried to murder Lukas and Jessie by sending her henchmen after them. And those were just the offenses Jessie had witnessed. How many more had died by her hand?

Still, could Jessie bring herself to do it? To kill another human being? Mobs were one thing, but this was another person. A person with thoughts, ideas, and ambitions (however twisted they were.) Jessie's mouth felt dry. Her grip on her sword was limp.

"What about the gates?" Jessie mumbled. "The gates are heavy. Guarded, too."

Taban glanced over at the gates and cursed under his breath. "I don't know how to break through."

Just then, a scream interrupted Jessie's thoughts. The voice sounded familiar. She turned around to see Lukas run out from between two buildings, injured but alive. He scrambled across the courtyard. Bataan followed close behind, in a bloodthirsty rage. Lukas's blue eyes were wide with panic. He didn't know where to run. A handful of other soldiers teamed up with Bataan to catch Lukas. They all had their swords drawn and ready to kill.

However, they didn't catch blondie. A large blur of silver swooped down from the sky and landed between Lukas and his pursuers. When it settled, Jessie saw it was a dragon. The silver dragon swept its tail at the soldiers, knocking three away, and breathed out a plume of fire to take care of three more. Bataan was the only one left standing.

"Yeah, dragon!" Lukas cheered stupidly. "Go, dragon!"

Bataan glowered, mouthed something obscene, and then ran in the other direction. A fire-breathing dragon, it seemed, was the only thing that could give the tenacious henchman pause.

The dragon folded in its wings, pleased with itself. When it did, Jessie got quite a surprise.

" _Ivor? Petra?_ "

They turned around and looked down at her. "Jessie! Lukas!"

Not wanting to be left out, Taban shouted his own name. "Taban!"

"Oh my gosh, you have no idea how relieved I am to see you guys," Jessie stammered. "I was worried you were lost, and…"

Arrows flew overhead. Some archers were shooting at the dragon, attempting to stop the Fire Empire's intervention before it even began. A large chunk of their ranks already had to be diverted to meet the incoming Fire Army. The prisoners still left standing cheered as their foes left to meet the new threat.

"And we have no time for heartwarming reunions," Jessie said quickly. "We have to get in that tower!"

"Well, then, hop on!" Ivor patted the dragon's scaly back. "I think we have room to squeeze on two more people."

"I'm gonna hold down the fort," Taban promised, grabbing a pair of swords off the ground. "Fly in and storm that tower! You can do this, Jessie."

Ivor helped Jessie climb up on the dragon's back, and Petra helped Lukas. There was no saddle; they were riding bareback. Ivor was leading the dragon, so he steered by tugging on a frill running down the dragon's long neck. Everyone else held on by gripping the creature's scales.

"Hiya!" Ivor gave the dragon a kick on the side. It unfolded its wings, then flapped them and rose into the air. It floated over the battle below. More dragons from the Fire Army soared around the airspace, dodging arrows shot by Xena's soldiers. The dragon the four friends rode circled the courtyard, garnering enough power to storm the gates. As it passed by a wall, it used its flail-tail to sweep off the soldiers standing on the wall. Jessie cringed as they fell to the icy ground. That would be broken bones, or worse.

The dragon swung around, on path to crash through the gates. The archers on the walls by the gate panicked and armed their bows, trying to shoot down the dragon before it carried out its attack. Ice-coated arrows whizzed at the beast and its four riders.

"Whoa!" Petra exclaimed as an arrow just missed her head. "Dangerous. Why is this world so hostile?"

"Try being a prisoner here for almost a week!" Jessie retorted. "I've been dragged out of bed at five in the morning, forced to mine ice all day, almost had my boyf—I mean, _best friend_ executed by hanging...This world sucks!"

Lukas looked at her quizzically, certain that she had started to say the word "boyfriend" before she corrected herself. But he had no time to ask Jessie about it, because the dragon was coming in hot at the gates. Literally. It was blasting fire out of its mouth to chase away the archers shooting at it. It swept over the gate, breaking some of the gate supports in the process. The iron grate crashed to the ground, and the dragon crashed just short of the stone tower. Ice shards, sparks, and pieces of broken wood flew in all directions.

"Is...Is everyone OK?" Jessie asked.

She got three responses of "We're fine."

"Okay, good."

The archers had been deterred but not killed by the invasion of the dragon, so once they recovered, they rushed at the four friends. They had swapped their bows for short swords. In response, Jessie and company arranged into a backs-to-backs cluster, weapons held out to meet the threat.

"Uh-oh!" Jessie squeaked. "We've got company."

"Run, Jessie!" Petra said. "You and Lukas head into the tower. Ivor and I will hold off these jokers."

So they did. Annoyed to have to leave her friends not more than five minutes after reuniting with them, but understanding the call, she and Lukas peeled away to breach the tower. The doors were unlocked, and the guards were distracted by Ivor and Petra, so they stormed in without a problem.

Inside, the tower was hewn stone, crusted over with ice. Sea lanterns provided a sterile, cold illumination. There wasn't much inside the tower besides the spiral staircase leading to the upper stories. Since no-one accosted them on the ground level, Jessie and Lukas took to the stairs. The scrambled up a few stories.

"This tower looks deserted," Jessie said. "No-one's attacked us yet."

"Who did you see run into the tower?" Lukas asked.

"I only saw Xena," Jessie replied, "but I think there are probably more of her goons hiding here...somewhere."

"But this tower is huge. How will we find her?"

"Maybe we should split up so we cover more ground."

"Jessie, that's a terrible idea." Lukas shook his head. "Every time the group of characters splits up in a story, bad things happen."

"We've been split up from Ivor and Petra for almost a week, and yet we're still alive."

" _Barely!_ I was almost hanged! You were almost killed by Xena's henchmen! I'm so done with this world."

"The sooner we find Xena, the sooner we can leave and...holy crap."

"What's the matter?"

"We have no idea where the portal for this world is. I forgot to ask anyone where it was. How are we going to get out of here if we can't find the portal?"

"Oh, that is not good…"

"Okay, okay," Jessie stammered, trying to stay positive. "If we pull through this battle, we might come across someone who knows where the portal is. At least one person here has to know, right?"

Lukas shrugged.

"I just want to keep hope alive. That's what we need to survive at this point. Hope."

"And good fighting skills."

"Yeah, that too."

They walked up another flight of stairs before the staircase ended. They weren't quite on the highest story, but for whatever reason, there were no more stairs above this level. A balcony girded this level of the tower.

"Let's split up," Jessie said again.

"I told you, I don't like that idea."

"What else can we do?"

"Fine," he said, giving in. Jessie went one way and Lukas went the other. His path took him into an annexed room, small and bare. There were windows lining the outside wall, but most of them were shattered. A hole was ripped out of the stonework, exposing the room to the air outside. The smoky, cold air...

Lukas's stomach felt queasy. He hated the sensation, because it usually meant that something was off. The air flowed strangely through the broken windows. A large draft blew in through the hole in the wall, which opened to a balcony outside. Lukas glanced around, feeling as though he was being watched. Like someone was going to pounce on him from behind. He hated that feeling, too.

He regretted going with Jessie's advisory to split up. What was he thinking? Splitting up was one of those classic mistakes that heroes make in stories. It got them into trouble more often than not.

The door behind him creaked, and feet shuffled slightly on the floor.

He tensed up, then asked in a tiny voice, "Jessie?"

A slight pause.

"No," came the cold reply. "Xena."

Lukas spun a 180. Xena stood behind him, a bloodied sword in her hand and a murderous look in her eyes. Lukas scrambled to arm his own sword. He held it out, arm trembling. Xena didn't swing the sword; she stabbed it at him in a sharp lunge. He narrowly dodged it. Before he even had time to answer the attack, she struck out again. The blade slashed through the air where his neck had been a second ago. The blade whistled.

Xena twirled the sword in her hand and prepared to attack again. She swept the sword down, then to the side. Lukas bent from side to side and slid left and right to avoid her blows. It looked like a mockery of a gypsy dance. Finally, Xena scored one lucky hit that he didn't dodge quite quickly enough. It nabbed him on the shoulder. Lukas cried out in pain and grabbed the now-bleeding shoulder.

Xena took advantage of that and tried to make a killing blow while he was distracted. But he saw her coming just in time. Too disoriented to strike with his sword, Lukas abruptly kicked her in the gut as she approached. It was a harder kick than he expected, and she staggered back several steps. Her head snapped up to glare at him.

Lukas ran away. He slipped through the hole in the wall, going out on the balcony. Which, in retrospect, was probably a dumb place to run, but he wasn't thinking clearly at this point. Xena chased after him.

The scene below him was chaos. It was a three-way battle between the Ice Empire, its prisoners, and the invading Fire Army. Debris and blood sullied the ground. The platform and some scaffolding were on fire. This flame, however, was not the weak yellow stuff of the Ice Empire; it was genuine, hot, crimson flame. It would be beautiful if it wasn't so dangerous.

But Lukas didn't get a lot of time to observe the chaos. Xena burst through the hole in the wall, in hot pursuit. She was snarling in anger and whipping the sword about, no doubt in eager anticipation of hacking her enemy to pieces.

 _She's mad,_ Lukas thought. _She's gone completely mad._

He lifted his gaze past her. Further down the balcony, Jessie was caught in a fight with Bataan (back for more fighting, apparently) and another soldier. Lukas couldn't run over to help her, though, not with Xena blocking the way. Crap! This was the second time today that he couldn't come to his friend's aid because of an enemy getting in the way. Useless! He hated it!

Xena swiped at him again. He brought his sword up and blocked her attack. Then she changed gears, switching from wide slashes to a series of rapid lunges. She struck with scary precision and reflexes. Lukas struggled to dodge each incoming attack. Xena showed no sign of wearing down; she kept the same fierce expression throughout. Not even Cassie had had such a look of bloodlust in her eyes.

"You can't keep dodging forever," she hissed.

"Why are you doing this?" he stammered, stepping back. "Why all this?"

"I'll tell you why!" Xena rushed forward and slammed her sword into Lukas's, with enough force to throw sparks. "I will not let my people be destroyed by our enemies! The only way to make sure your enemies don't destroy you is to destroy them first. And I'm _not_ going to let any damnable captives get in my way of that!"

She thrust her sword at his head. Lukas ducked out of the way just in time. If he had been a split second too slow, the steel blade would have pierced through his skull. Xena swept her arm around and struck him on his side with the flat of the blade. He staggered from the impact, stumbling off of the balcony and onto a ledge projecting from it. An unguarded ledge, straight above a twenty-meter drop to the hard ground below. Xena darted forward, cutting off his chance to regain the lost ground. He dodged another swipe of the sword. Xena attacked in such rapid-fire that Lukas barely had a chance to attempt an offense of his own.

Xena caught him off-guard, bringing a leg up and kicking him in the gut. Down he went. He sprawled on his back, and his head bounced against the stone. His sword dropped out of his hand and skidded across the ledge, out of reach. Before he could reach to retrieve it, Xena slammed her foot down on his chest, pinning him.

"I pinned you down with my foot. Now I will pin you down with my sword." She swung her blade around and pointed it straight down at him, aimed right at his heart. His eyes went wide. A deranged smile spread across Xena's face, delighted to see the sheer terror in his expression.

Lukas did the only thing he could at the moment. He yelled for help.

"JESSIE!"

"No help from her!" Xena insisted.

But across the balcony, Jessie heard her name and turned to see Lukas's plight. She let out a gasp. She bashed Bataan with her sword, knocking him to the ground, and then ran across the ledge to save Lukas. Her heart pounded in her ears and she could feel her blood rushing through her being. She was only half-aware that she was lifting her diamond sword in anticipation to strike. She came upon Xena from behind and lunged down with the blade…

A scream ripped from Xena's throat, an inhuman shriek. Jessie, panicking, pulled out the blade. Xena collapsed to her knees, her bloodthirsty expression replaced by one of shock, and then fell forward. A red puddle formed under her. She lay there motionless.

Xenophobia was dead.

 **To be continued...**


	26. Party's Over

Jessie started crying. This was too much. She could barely take in what had happened. She had just _killed_ someone! Did that make Jessie evil? Had she done the right thing or not? She hadn't wanted to kill, but she'd done it anyway. And now it looked like Lukas was dying anyway! Still crying, she shoved Xena off of him and scooped him up in her arms.

Okay, he still felt warm; that was a good sign. His eyes were shut. Maybe he had fainted from exhaustion. Jessie sniffled, hoping he wasn't dead. She couldn't handle that. She stood up. Lukas was a pretty lean fellow, so it didn't take a terrible amount of effort to lift him. A light snow started to sprinkle from the clouds. The noise below had softened; it was either reality or just Jessie's perception. Quietly, she sat down and draped Lukas across her lap. It looked like an reenactment of the pieta.

She ran her hand through his golden hair. "Don't die on me, please."

For a long time they sat in silence, with the snow falling around them and dusting the ground. She thought about a lot of things as the snow swirled around her in silence. She thought back to all they'd accomplished together, starting with a cookie in a dirt hut and ending with a desperate attempt to save his life. Oh, she hoped she hadn't failed. She wouldn't be able to handle losing such a close friend. Or maybe he was more than just a friend.

Then Lukas cracked open one of those pretty blue eyes and said, "I'm okay, really. Thanks."

Jessie sighed, relieved. Hope ran through her like warm bathwater.

He glanced about, seeing her arms wrapped around him. "Why are you holding me?"

 _Awkward!_

"Uh…"

"Well, stop holding me like that. I'm not good and pure enough to be the messianic archetype."

What, Lukas of all people not being pure enough? His soft little heart was practically driven snow. Or at least it was in Jessie's sight.

"That is not true."

"Yes, it is."

"Oh, come here, you. Give me a kiss."

"Okay."

They leaned in and kissed. Both of them tried to ignore how their hearts fluttered and their ears suddenly felt hot and red. Jessie was glad no-one was around to see them. This was her first kiss, and she wanted to savor the moment. When they pulled out of the kiss, her mind was pink froth. Sweet and fizzy. She let Lukas stand on his own two feet.

"Wow," Jessie sighed.

"You know, I don't think we've ever kissed before." Lukas ran his hand through his banana-blond hair.

"Wanna do it again?"

"Let's not overdo it."

"Aw, c'mon."

"Maybe later. Besides—" He glanced over the balcony. "—I think they need us right now. Just because Xena is dead doesn't mean the fight is going to stop immediately."

Oh, snap. Jessie had been so caught up in the thrill of the moment that she forgot about Xena. She stumbled.

"Lukas," she whimpered, "I killed Xena. I killed someone."

"Who has killed loads of other people. Other _innocent_ people."

Here came the waterworks again. "It doesn't feel right!"

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Shh, shh. I know it doesn't feel right. This is...this is heavy stuff. But you had to do it. It was self-defense."

"Am I a bad person?"

"No. Never."

"I never want this to happen again. I wish Edge could have lived. Edge and everyone else who's suffered here. They were innocent."

"I feel you. Oh, those poor kids."

"I hope the two empires can stop fighting. I want there to be peace."

"Maybe we can convince them to work something out?"

"Maybe."

Jessie helped Lukas down the stairs and out of the tower. He had to lean on her because he was weak from the beating he'd taken at the hands of Xena. Jessie noted, with dismay, his cuts and bruises, especially the slash on his shoulder. It was still bleeding a bit. He needed a bandage.

"I'm glad you were okay," she said, giving him a side-hug. "I've come close to losing you too many times."

When they emerged from the tower, Ivor and Petra were on them in a second.

"We saw the fight up in the balcony!" Petra said. "That was too close. Lukas, you almost died!"

"I'm still shaken up," blondie stammered.

"I'm gonna have nightmares about this for weeks," Jessie whimpered. "It's as bad as those first couple weeks after the Witherstorm disaster. I can't get over what happened."

Ivor frowned and took Jessie aside.

"Jessie, you did it in self-defense," Ivor said. "That woman was a murderer, and she was about to take her next victim. I wish things like this didn't have to happen, but you did it to save your friend's life."

"Speaking of things I wish didn't have to happen," Jessie said, "what's the situation with the battle between the empires?"

Ivor gave them a recap. "The advantage is on the Fire Empire at the moment. They have their dragons. Plus, they have morale on their side as well. Everyone saw the confrontation between Xena and Lukas, so everyone saw her die. The soldiers for the Ice Empire lost their morale once she was dead. Fire forces have been able to contain them since. The fight is dying down."

"How bad are the casualties?" Jessie asked, worried.

"On both sides, they're not heavy, but not little either," Petra said. "Plenty of people have died and lots of them are wounded."

Jessie pushed Lukas forward and showed Ivor the gash on his shoulder. "We have a wounded guy, too."

"Drat! I don't have any healing potions," Ivor grumbled, sifting through his Pocket. "Use this until we find something better."

He pulled some clean white cloth out of his Pocket, tore off a strip, and tossed it to Jessie. Jessie caught it, then wound it around Lukas's shoulder to stop the bleeding. Then she suddenly remember something.

"We don't know where the portal out of here is," she told Ivor in a panic.

"Oh, snap!" Petra bit her lip. "We have to find it ASAP. I want out of this crazy world."

"Do you think there's anyone here who might know?" Lukas looked around. "It's like we said. There has to be at least one person around here who knows."

"I hope that one person wasn't Xena."

"If she was, we're screwed." Petra put her hands on her hips.

Jessie gave her an unamused look. "Thanks for staying so upbeat, Petra."

"I'm just saying. You were the one who brought it up."

"Enough!" Ivor snapped. "This isn't the time for that. Petra, where did Argus go? Perhaps he knows."

"I saw him just a couple minutes ago. He grabbed a tree branch off the ground and took out four soldiers with it! It was impressive."

"Who's Argus?" Jessie blew a piece of hair out of her face.

"The general for the Fire Army," Petra explained. "He helped us find the Fire Empire in the first place. Without him, we probably would still be trudging through the jungle. Nice guy. And, uh, not too hard on the eyes, either…"

"She just thinks so because he doesn't wear a shirt," Ivor muttered. "I told her that it was shallow to think of men that way."

Petra looked away from him and rolled her eyes. Before she said anything, though, Taban came running onto the scene, still holding the two swords he'd picked up earlier.

"Jessie! Lukas! Are you OK? I saw the fight," he said breathlessly.

"We're fine," they replied.

"The Ice Army just surrendered," the guard said. "So I guess you could say that the battle is _finis_. I don't know what that means for me, though. I might have to surrender even though I was fighting for the Fire Army. Uh...it's hard being a double agent."

"Did you see Archer?" Jessie asked. "I lost sight of him when we had to run away from Bataan and Dachau."

Taban shrugged. "Last time I saw him, he was mowing down Ice army soldiers with an axe. It was pretty gruesome, actually. He was screaming something about 'freedom at any cost.' I tried to stay out of his way. I look like an Ice army soldier, so he'd try to kill me if our paths crossed."

"What a mess," Jessie muttered. "Look, if the fight is over, we need to gather up the leaders from both sides."

"Why?"

"I want them to negotiate peace." Jessie stomped her foot on the ground. "This horror show has gone on long enough. Now that Xena's gone, we might stand a chance of having a situation where the two sides of the issue aren't killing each other all the time."

Taban shook his head sadly. "That's a nice dream, kiddo, but it's not gonna work. Fire and ice are always going to be enemies."

Jessie glared. "You are not fire and ice. You are people. Human beings. It doesn't matter what patch of dirt you were born on in the world. Maybe it's time you stopped judging based on that."

Taban looked a bit taken aback.

"Ivor, Petra, you'd better go fetch Argus. Before this conversation gets too political, y'know."

"I'll go get him," Petra offered, then ran off to find Argus.

Taban broke the awkward quiet thereafter. "I want to put my past behind me. Do you think they'll forgive me for what I've done? All the wrong I've done the innocent captives here?"

"What wrong? You helped Lukas and I escape and you saved me from Dachau. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have been able to even get this far."

"It's not that easy, Jessie. I've gone along with Xena and her nastiness for years. I've seen so many people die under her watch without doing anything to stop it. I never _enjoyed_ seeing it, but I never fought against it. Not 'till now. Do you think I can make up for it?"

"You've turned it around. Many more people would have died if Xena had been free to continue her regime. Starting with three folks: Archer, Lukas, and I. You saved our lives."

"It was the sick kid that did it, Jessie. I hated seeing the kids suffer in this rat hole. They were so innocent. Most of them were too young to even know why they were here. When that little guy died...I couldn't take it anymore. And if he wasn't the breaking point, Edge was."

"Edge…" Jessie said sadly. Thinking about him almost brought her to tears again.

Petra returned promptly, towing along Argus by the arm. Argus was stammering things like "What's the hurry?" but he stopped when he caught sight of Taban. His eyes narrowed.

"Ice Empire scum," he growled. "Mourning for Xena, are you?"

"Stop it right there." Jessie interposed herself between them. "Taban is a good guy. He helped Lukas and I escape so we could go up against Xena. You have no right to speak ill of him."

Argus backed down, but still gave Taban a suspicious stare. It was an odd sight, really. The Ice Empire fellow in armor and fur versus the Fire Empire guy in leather pants and a jacket.

Jessie continued, "With Xena gone, someone has to take control in the Ice Empire. I want someone who's good and honest. Someone who will make this a better world instead of a worse one. For that reason, I want Taban to be the leader of the ice people."

Taban looked startled. "Are you sure?"

"Thanks to you, Taban, I know that not all ice people are bad. Find some more good people to be your advisors."

"Please stop fighting," Lukas pleaded. "Let there be peace."

The two men looked at each other. They pondered, weighing their own opinions and thinking about maybe considering something new. After a long moment, they both reached out and shook each other's hands.

"Peace," they agreed.

"Yes!" Jessie cheered.

"I grow weary of the fighting, Taban," Argus said.

"I can't take seeing the horror in these prison camps anymore, Argus," Taban said.

"From now on, the Ice Empire and the Fire Empire will be at peace," was their agreement. "To respect each other's borders and each other's people."

"Wait." Jessie had been thinking. "I have a better idea. One that will really make sure there will be no more fighting."

"What's that, little girl?" Argus inquired.

"Well, do you guys know what happens when fire meets ice?"

"Water," they said. "The ice is melted by the heat of the fire, and together they make for warm water."

Jessie winked.

"You know, I like that idea," Taban said. "No more empires. Just a peaceful kingdom."

"I'm so proud of her!" Ivor chortled. "Erm...yes, proud of how well she's handled this. I had no idea she had such a knack for making peace."

Lukas was pretty proud of her, too. "Well, you know what they say about 'blessed are the peacemakers.' I hope this works out for them."

Argus and Taban shook hands again, and started to discuss how they were going to share power when Lukas walked up to them and asked about the portal.

"Really sorry to interrupt," said he, "but we need your help with one last little thing."

He explained the portal dilemma.

Taban was stunned. "All this time and you didn't say anything?"

"Never had much of a chance. What with Xena trying to kill us all the time and everything."

Taban didn't know where the portal was, but Argus did. They took a short time to say good-bye to Taban and wish him good luck on helping Argus build the River Kingdom from the debris of the Ice and Fire Empires. Then Argus loaded them up on the back of a silver dragon and flew them to what used to be the Fire Empire. The portal was inside an old temple. Wonderfully, no gimmicks were needed to activate it. No weird artifacts, no diamonds, no extra sets of flintensteel. Only one spark, and it was ready to go. Lukas, having had quite enough of the ice and fire world, was the first one through, followed by Ivor and then Petra. Jessie was the last one to leave.

Just before she stepped through the portal, Jessie felt something prickle the skin on the back of her neck. She felt almost as if something was tapping on her shoulder, trying to get her attention. She glanced over her shoulder to see whatever it wanted her to see. Her eyes widened at little at what she saw.

In the distance stood two figures. They were pale and translucent. They were spirits, a teen holding the hand of a young child. Somehow they seemed to notice Jessie. The little kid started hopping around happily, like any happy healthy child, and the teen waved at Jessie.

There was a strip of white cloth tied around his ankle.

* * *

The portal spat them out into the hallway in a paradoxical spray of sparks and snow. They stood up and dusted themselves off, brushing off frost and soot.

"Are we...are we actually out of there?" Lukas asked.

"I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks!" Jessie complained.

"And we still haven't found our way home!" Petra threw her hands up in frustration.

"It's okay, Petra." Jessie tried to stay upbeat. "Every wrong portal brings us one step closer to the right one."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"I forgot who was supposed to choose the next portal," Ivor said, stroking his beard. "Do you remember, Jessie?"

"I think it was you."

"Me? Again?"

"Choose wisely. Or maybe Petra can choose it instead."

While they chattered, Lukas glanced around at the kaleidoscopic lights shining in the hallway. It was pretty, but confusing. Not all that unlike the journeys through the various worlds, really.

"The in and out and in and out gets really crazy," Lukas said. "Sometimes it almost feels like a...like a...portal party or something."

 **THE END**


	27. Epilogue: A Change of Heart

_After the events of "A Journey's End"_

"Adventure!" Ivor leapt through the red portal with hardly a second thought. Even though he had brought the Atlas along on his impromptu new journey, he didn't need it for this specific mission. He knew exactly where the red portal with the redstone frame led. There were a few loose ends that he needed to tie up. Specifically, a person he wanted to talk to.

He fell a few feet and then landed in the Mesa World. Specifically, he landed in the midst of a sandy path beating its way over the plateaus of sun-baked clay. He had already been this way before, so he knew how to get to Crown Mesa. He started on a brisk walk, hands in his robe pockets. He was glad to not have any encounters with creepy chipped zombies on his way. After about fifteen minutes, a plateau loomed up in front of him. Wooden stairs reached up to its top. Ivor climbed the stairs, thinking of the right thing to say when he got to where he was going. He reached inside his Pocket to check if the rose was still there. It was. Good. He needed the rose, because he had a special someone he wanted to give it to.

Crown Mesa had significantly improved following PAMA's defeat. The water wells had been replenished and canals built. Because of this, farms could now be established. There were healthy green farms and gardens instead of a sea of dried-up clay and sand. The houses had been improved once rebuilt, so now they kept cool even better than before. The best part, though, was the sight of the citizens. The Crown Mesans were going about town as clear-thinking, free-willed citizens, moving around in delightful disorganization. There wasn't a red eye or a jerky movement to be seen.

Ivor flagged down one man who was painting clay for a new house. "Excuse me."

"Yes?" he replied.

"I'm looking for Harper. Do you know where she is?"

The man thought about it for a moment, trying to remember, and then he said, "Oh, right. She's inside the wreckage of PAMA over there. I don't know what she's doing. Maybe you'd better not bother her."

"She won't be bothered. I'm a friend. I admire her work."

"Mmokay. If you say so."

It had been impossible to miss PAMA the first time he was at Crown Mesa, so Ivor didn't have any trouble re-locating the remains of the computer. The computer's giant screen was cracked from people kicking and breaking it. They had also written some naughty things about how much they hated PAMA on the glass with black ink. Ivor was disappointed, but was too busy with his task to stop and wipe off the graffiti. Someone else could do that later.

It was strange that Harper would be inside the wreckage of PAMA, of all places, but after thinking about it, Ivor could draw some logic behind it. Maybe she was salvaging redstone wiring, or helping to dismantle the machine from the inside. He climbed through a hole in the glass large enough to pass through and entered the inner chamber.

Just as he theorized, Harper was at work inside the wreckage. She had built a hasty scaffolding from sandstone and was collecting redstone wire and quartz from the defunct machinery. She was so engrossed in her work that she did not notice Ivor approach. She kept collecting materials and stuffing them into her Pocket until he walked up to her and loudly cleared his throat.

"Gah!" Harper yelped, dropping the redstone dust and quartz she was carrying. They fell off the scaffold and disappeared into the depths of the machinery. Harper watched them fall, disappointed, then looked up to scold whoever scared her. She stopped short when she saw that it was Ivor.

"H-h-hello, Har-harper," Ivor stuttered, not so confident all of a sudden.

"What are you doing here? I thought you went back to your homeworld." Harper stood up and brushed redstone dust off her overcoat.

"I had to come back!" Ivor said. "I, um...There's something I have to give you!"

"Like what?"

"Uhh...Um…" He pulled the rose out of his Pocket. "Here. I should have given you this before you left in the Portal Hallway."

Harper took the flower out of his hand. "You came all this way just to give me a flower?"

Ivor nodded. "Is...is that not right?"

"No, it's fine, it's just...something that takes a lot of dedication." She squinted at him. "Wait a second. Why do I get the feeling that...people usually don't give each other roses for no reason…"

It was a good thing that the ambient light inside the wreckage of PAMA was bright red, because Ivor was blushing severely. "I...I think you're a very intriguing person. You're amazing!"

Harper chuckled. "Oh, Ivor, why didn't you just tell me you felt this way about me? We could have arranged something. I could have wrapped up my projects in Crown Mesa and then come home with you. You didn't have to run all the way over here to give me a rose."

"I...um…"

"In any case, I like it. Roses are nice flowers." She pocketed the rose. "Say, while you're here, would you like to see my main project?"

"Isn't it cleaning up the mess PAMA made?"

Harper smirked like she knew a fantastic secret. "That's what the Crown Mesa people think, but it's not quite it. That's my main project everyone knows about. My _real_ main project is a secret."

"I'm intrigued."

"Come with me if you want to see it."

"It's not here in the village?"

"Too risky. We're going to my old secret lab."

* * *

Harper and Ivor walked side by side down the corridor to her lab. Cool, dry drafts blew through the hard clay tunnel. Their footsteps echoed softly in the wide space.

"So what is this top secret project you've been working on?" Ivor asked as they trekked along.

"Wouldn't be much of a secret project if I told people, now would it?" Harper winked. "I'll show you as soon as we enter the lab."

They walked for a little ways longer and turned a bend. Then the hallway opened up into a foyer lit by the teal glow of sea lanterns. Below a sculpture resembling a funny face lit by lava, and beyond a glass panel on the floor, was the laboratory entrance. Now that PAMA was no longer on the attack, the water-based security system was unnecessary; Harper and Ivor could directly enter the lab without fiddling with pouring water buckets into cauldrons. So they did. Ivor sped to the doors and held them open for Harper.

"Ladies first," he offered with a cheesy grin.

Harper rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Oh, Ivor. Come on in the lab already. It's something very exciting."

Harper's lab was a cavernous room carved from the hard clay, with polished andesite stone patching the walls at some points. Wool lined the floor, and the whole place was lit by sea lanterns. Bookcases towered above their heads and all kinds of utilities for engineering were scattered about the room: crafting tables, furnaces, anvils, chests of supplies, tall water tanks, and some other random scientific gizmos. The greeter-robots were gone; Harper had pulled them out and discarded them when the population of Crown Mesa was freed. Now that the people were in their right minds again, she didn't need weird talking statues for companionship.

In the middle of the room was a metal table, with trays on the side for holding tools. Mirrors diverted some of the light from the lanterns to the surface to better illuminate the projects on the table. It was the high-tech cousin of a workbench.

On top of it lay Harper's latest project. Ivor didn't have a clue what exactly it was, but it was absurd. It looked like a child made out of steel plates. It had spiky "hair" colored green and a large pair of goggles over its face. The plate of casing over its chest was removable, and Harper had taken it off and set it on the table beside the body. She was working on the internal mechanisms inside its chest cavity. Even though robots don't really need to wear clothes, Harper had dressed the robot-kid with black shorts and a pair of red sneakers. Probably a modesty thing.

"What is that? It looks like a child made out of metal," Ivor commented.

"It's a robot. It's _ambulatory_. It can move and walk around by itself."

"Interesting."

"I call him Mini-PAMA."

Ivor did a double take. "Mini-WHAT?!" He backpedaled several steps away from the workbench, as if 'Mini-PAMA' was suddenly going to spring up and attack him despite being deactivated.

Harper smiled, sheepish. "Mini-PAMA. Look, I know what you're thinking, but don't jump to conclusions. Yes, this is PAMA reprogrammed and put in a little robot body, but he's just that—revised, redone! I programmed all the evil out of him."

Ivor was still skeptical. "How does that work?"

"Well, I'm not going to go into the very technical details, but I added a new block into his code to fix his obsession with making things 'useful.' His morality chip, if you will. He can recognize humans and will not try to make them 'useful' anymore. I'm also scaling back his capabilities so he can't get out of control again. I put a barrier into his AI so he can't independently advance beyond the average 12-year-old's intelligence. I'm also installing a less potent power source. The Redstone Heart was too much for him to handle."

"What do you have in mind for a replacement?"

"This." Harper took a small object out of her Pocket and showed it to Ivor. It was no bigger than a can of soup and about the same shape, too. Wires stuck out of either end, and the whole deal was plated in shiny yellow metal. Between pieces of plate, a green glow pulsed from within the power source.

"Fascinating. What is that?"

"It's a battery. I call it Mini-PAMA's 'heart of gold.' Pretty fitting name, wouldn't you say?"

"Fair enough, but I'm still a bit hesitant. Are you sure this is safe?"

"If I did everything right, there's not a thing to worry about," Harper reassured him. "If I screwed something up, well, it's won't be as hard to fix it this time. He's much easier to deactivate in this form. If you can catch him, that is."

She crossed over to the workbench, carrying the heart of gold. She fit it into Mini-PAMA's chest cavity and attached the wires. The battery neatly clicked into place. Then she put the casing plate back on the body and secured the screws. As she did it, Ivor backed away from the workbench, super paranoid.

"Okay," Harper said when she was done. "Everything's in place. All that's left is to power him on…"

Ivor took shelter behind a bookcase.

Harper pressed a switch on the robot's upper arm, near the shoulder. There was the whir of electricity powering up. PAMA's "loading" dot appeared on Mini-PAMA's goggles before playing the "active" sound and changing to the digital image of his eyes. Harper stood back and stayed quiet.

She jumped back, startled, when Mini-PAMA abruptly cried out "Noooooo!" and punched the air with his small metal fist. In Mini's mind, he was picking right up where he left off as regular PAMA. He screeched again before realizing that he wasn't fighting Jessie anymore. Sitting up, he dropped his theatrics and glanced around the room instead, a bemused expression displayed on his goggles.

"...Where am I?" He glanced down at his little robot body and got even more confused. "What am I?"

"Hello, Mini-PAMA. Do you remember me?" Harper asked gently.

Mini-PAMA processed it, dredging up the old information from the corners of his robotic brain. "You are Harper, my creator."

"Good, good."

He looked sad. "My morality chip tells me that I have been a very bad computer."

Harper didn't want to be harsh with Mini, but she wanted to be honest, too. "Yes. You have been. You should have obeyed me."

"I hurt a lot of people, Miss Harper."

"True."

"And I tried to kill Jessie when she went into my core."

"Also true."

"You shouldn't have reactivated me. I'm a bad computer."

"Not anymore," Harper said. "I reactivated you to give you a second chance. I know you want to be a good guy. And I think you can do it."

Mini looked down at his sneakered feet, doubtful.

"Well, I still don't trust him," Ivor chimed in, emerging from his bulwark behind the bookcase. "Can you really 'reform' him out of his obsession with making things efficient?"

"Oh, dear!" Mini shrank back. "It's Mr. Ivor. Is he still angry with me?"

Harper sighed. "Oh, Ivor. Give him a chance, please."

"I'm not hearing an apology from the computer," Ivor grumped.

"Mr. Ivor, if you still don't like me, I understand," Mini-PAMA said. "I now know that what I did in the past was wrong. I'm sorry for hurting your friends. But please give me a chance...find a place in your heart to forgive me if you can. I don't want to be evil anymore. I know that, from reading memories in the past, people can change. Well, I think that computers can change, too. I want to be useful, but this time in the way that my creator decides. I'm not going to use the chips. I'm very sorry for hurting the people. Too much control isn't good. Free will is...more useful."

Ivor crossed his arms, eyebrows perked in intrigue. "Well, I'll be. That was actually quite impressive."

"I want to be a good guy," the robot kid concluded.

"You're going to be. I can help you." Harper struggled to fit a long-sleeved shirt over Mini's head. Then she slipped a thin leather jacket on his shoulders.

"You had an outfit planned for him and everything," Ivor remarked. "You know, Harper, you have a penchant for treating your creations like your children."

"Well, who's going to make sure his battery stays charged, if not me?" Harper defensively put her arm around Mini's shoulders and pulled him close. "He can't be useful if his battery runs out. Then he'll just fall asleep right where he stands."

"Depleted batteries are not useful," Mini mumbled.

Harper fussily smoothed Mini's shirt sleeves. "And I have to protect him from the Crown Mesa citizens. I don't think very many of them are ready to forgive him yet."

"I wouldn't expect them to be," Ivor said.

Harper shuffled through a crate placed next to the workbench. From it, she retrieved a black electrical cord with a plug. It must have been Mini's charging cord. She rolled it up into a coil and put it in her overcoat pocket.

"There," said she. "Now I can have his cord on hand at all times."

"What's the first thing you have planned for him?"

"We're going to start with a security grid," Harper said, half to Ivor and half to Mini. "Now that we don't have monsters chipped anymore, they're a nighttime threat again. I'm planning on building smart traps that will catch monsters but not people. Mini can help me with that."

"Let me look through my apps list...Oh yeah! Ms. Harper installed all the mathematical algorithms that I'll need to be useful," Mini chattered. "I can draw circuit maps and estimate the resources she'll need. She can update me with more features as time goes on. Right, Ms. Harper?"

"Right, Mini." She turned to Ivor. "I don't want to give him too much at once. Anyway, once we're done with the grid, I'm going to figure out a way to clean up the damage from the old PAMA monitor. There's still a lot of glass and redstone wire and quartz to get rid of."

"I'm gonna be useful! I'm gonna be useful!" Mini cheered, prancing around the room.

"I have high hopes," Harper said to Ivor.

"If you say so."

"You know, if you're so afraid of Mini causing trouble, why don't you stay behind so you can help me keep an eye on him?" Harper suggested.

Oh! Getting to spend more time with Harper? Ivor tried not to sound too excited.

"I'm taking you up on that offer!" he blurted.

After all, he came here for another ADVENTURE!

* * *

 **A/N: We be done!**

 **Portal Party is now completely finished.**

 **This is satisfying. What I originally planned to be a series of quick, funny oneshots turned into something so much bigger. I had a lot of fun exploring the personalities of the main cast, having them explore new settings, and meeting a cast of funky OCs.**

 **I'm honored that people liked Portal Party so much, and I've really enjoyed becoming a part of this community and making friends here. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the MCSM fandom is the best fandom I've ever been a part of. You guys are so creative, friendly, upbeat, and understanding. I hope our smol, awesome fandom stays active for a good long time.**

 **Stay tuned for upcoming Silly Mode shorts and new chapters for A Touch of Magic. I will be releasing chapters of the sequel to Portal Party, MCSM Rebuilt, as soon as possible.**

 **Lots of love!**

 **Tealy**


End file.
